


Legacy

by Wix



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Alternate Universe, Betrayal, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Psychological Trauma, Retribution, Sokovia Accords, Team Dynamics, Temporary Character Death, Unhealthy Relationships, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26339671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wix/pseuds/Wix
Summary: There are two sides to every coin.
Relationships: Gregory Stark & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Howard Stark
Comments: 1028
Kudos: 1795
Collections: A Collection of Beloved Inserts, Fics I Don't Want To Lose





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Legacy [Traducción]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29693895) by [HappyGoSuckyFucky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyGoSuckyFucky/pseuds/HappyGoSuckyFucky)



> Hello everyone! Here's an oldie but a goodie! Legacy, re-edited and reposted! It's been a while since I started this, and I was looking back through my unfinished old posts and felt a tug towards this one.  
> It might not be easily noticeable to those who managed to save the files before with just chapter one, but there have been major edits to this one so hope you enjoy the new Legacy!

There comes a time, when everything is falling apart at the seams, when you think that it can’t possibly get any worse than it already has; and that tends to be the moment when fate tap dances onto the scene and just laughs and laughs.

Case in point: The Sokovia Accords.

By themselves, the Sokovia Accords are nothing major. A stepping stone to a lot of potential problems that could come down the pipeline someday in the future if not properly navigated, but all in all not that much of a concern. They were more of a sign that things had been pushed too far, that the world was starting to get annoyed at certain events occurring over and over again without any indication of that circular situation stopping anytime soon.

When they’d first crossed his desk, Fury hadn’t actually paid much mind to them. Ross had enlisted Stark to assist with the legislations, and Fury knew that Stark would do everything in his considerable power and influence to make sure that the spin always landed on the best possible outcome for the Avengers. It had seemed like such a simple and obvious thing. All the Sokovia Accords boiled down to was that a whole bunch of people had decided that they were done allowing superpowered squads go around without any kind of oversight or containment. Rogers’ horrible handling of the situation in Lagos had all but ensured that such a document would be crossing the desks of every world leader disgusted by a single man breaking international law and getting innocent civilians killed in the crossfire of a mission that didn’t have clearance from any government, and certainly not the governmental area that they were in, that went sideways.

Fury had always known that something like this would eventually make it out onto the world stage. There had been dozens and dozens of similar attempts over the years, but Stark and SHIELD had quickly come in and quietly handled them out of the public view. Honestly, he was rather impressed that they’d managed to hold onto the original status quo for so long. With more and more situations popping up, more and more incursions from alien forces and more and more powered individuals coming out of the woodworks – there was always going to be something that started trying to come up with a kind of legality understanding for them. It was far too early for it to be anything solid; it had been nothing to fear. Just something to ride out.

Apparently, no one took the time to tell Steve Rogers that.

Case in point again: The Civil War.

And what a load of crap that was. War? War was a pathetic descriptor put down to the paper with an attempt to sensationalize something that really just boiled down to the breakdown of the Avengers Initiative under Rogers’ unnecessary and unneeded uncompromising stance. None of that had been a war, it was arrogance pretending to be righteousness. It was one man deciding that not only was he above all others, but that those special individuals that he deigned to take under his ‘protection’ were above them as well.

Maybe this is slightly Fury’s fault. Maybe this wasn’t just arrogance, but arrogance mixed with a learned response. After all, the inclusion of the Scarlet Witch into the Avengers initiative against Stark’s wishes must have galvanized Rogers into believing that any wrongs done by an individual were able to easily be swept under the rug with Captain America’s ‘They’re All Good Now Because I Said So’ stamp of approval. Rogers never did see all of the work that went down in the background between Stark and Fury’s teams, mitigating the chaos created when the Avengers decided to just accept a mind-controlling Hydra agent onto the Avengers without so much as a slap on the wrist for her wrongdoings and smuggling her into the States without any attempt of adhering to proper immigration laws.

So perhaps he’d thought that he’d win in the end with no effort when it came to the Winter Soldier. Maybe he had thought that he could just say ‘It Wasn’t Bucky’ and everyone would just blankly nod along with his words and ignore one of the world’s most prolific assassins. When he thinks about it, he wonders if Maximoff was a test run. If Rogers used her to see if the world could forgive someone with a history and a ledger like hers, and when the positive results from Stark’s hard work came around, he must have come to the incorrect conclusion that it was only his word that had created the semi-clean slate for the Witch and had assumed that something similar could be done with the Winter Soldier when it all came down to it.

Fury wonders if maybe that wasn’t the only learned response that Rogers showed over the years. Looking back at it now, Fury can see how their handling and building up of Rogers might have allowed him to pick up a lot of bad habits and beliefs. Rogers’ response to the Accords might tie back in to how Project Insight was handled. How that whole event went down – or how Rogers _thought_ that whole event went down – could have led directly to how he thought that he could dig his feet in now and say no and expect the rest of the world to move around him.

‘Transparency’ That was a laugh, and that was the absolute last thing that the handling of Project Insight had accomplished. What it had done, was hit the reset button for SHIELD and allow Fury to weed out some undesirables and move them back into the shadows for what came next. SHIELD in recent years had become too mainstream, too recognizable. Fury had done it in the hopes that powered individuals like these ones popping up in New York and the like would reach out to join up of their own volition after seeing Stark and connecting SHIELD with him and everything he was doing for the world. That wasn’t what had happened though, instead they’d gone to ground and kept to themselves and it was determined that SHIELD would need to be back in the shadows to properly be able to…investigate and corral all of these new individuals out of sight of the main public.

The extra bonus of how they’d handled the situation was that it had secured Rogers’ loyalty to Fury and his trust in Natasha by pretending to give him the choice of what the future would look like after he had started chafing under SHIELD control. It also let Fury put Natasha front and center of the media circus, making her connect everything to her image and to the Avengers as opposed to SHIELD itself.

But the thought that they’d ‘become more transparent’ after the entire event was laughable at best and just pathetically sad at worst. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rogers hadn’t come up with the idea to ‘put the info out’, he’d been led by careful prodding from Carter, Hill and Romanov throughout the entire event so as to come out to the pre-chosen ending scenario.

The only reason that SHIELD had stepped out in the first place was because of the opportunity created by Tony Stark’s trauma from his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Ten Rings, and once they got their foot in the door they stayed so that they could get their claws even deeper into the man who created the single most terrifying weapon to ever grace the earth in his quest for peace.

Maybe the arrogance isn’t all on Rogers’ side. Maybe Fury’s been guilty of it too. He’d allowed himself to get cocky and complacent in his control of Stark. He let himself get used to how easily things continued to fall into place one after the other. Tony Stark was like a magical genie, you made a wish and he made it come true, seemingly effortlessly.

Back during the ‘Fall of SHIELD’ as the media had called it, Fury had played Rogers like a fiddle. He’d been just what the doctor ordered. A blond haired, blue eyed, self-proclaimed ‘paragon of justice’ that Fury had been able to hide behind. It had worked even better than Fury had originally imagined. Rogers had taken the lure of being the one to make such a vital decision that would ‘shape the future’ with a smile and a skip in his step, and he’d marched right along to the tune that Fury had set out for him to play.

It had been far too easy.

Stark had known better though, which had been the reason that Romanov had been sent to Rogers to keep him from reaching out to the billionaire at all costs. It turned out that it had been an unnecessary concern, as Rogers’ own issues with the Stark heir had played out to everyone’s advantage. Rogers’ need to be the one holding all of the cards, to be the one who got the leg over Stark had been an easy card to play.

Unfortunately though, it seemed to be a common story, with those issues being played to the advantage of so many others outside of Fury as well: Ultron, Maximoff, Secretary Ross, Zemo…it seemed like there was no end of people who could reach into their bag of tricks and find a simple way to use Rogers’ need to come out on top over Tony Stark to the detriment of all.

The sad thing? Rogers never seemed to learn that the giant that everyone was avoiding wasn’t him at all, but the man he quietly detested and not so subtly resented.

Or maybe Rogers couldn’t learn that lesson. Since he never seemed to take any responsibility for the events he was involved in and his own direct role in them. It was like he had a Tony Stark shaped red flag that always got the bull charging when it was waved, regardless of why.

Although Fury couldn’t wait to see the reports from Romanov and Barton about what the _hell_ they were thinking during all of this. Adding themselves into the chaos of the Accords and Rogers’ little ‘Save Bucky At All Costs’ bullshit? Siding with Rogers over Stark during such a critical time? He couldn’t wait to see the excuses and rationale that would explain away why they fucked up years and years of careful planning and meticulous groundwork that had been executed in order to get Tony Stark under their ‘supervision’ willingly.

All that work, and they just threw it away in a game of favorites with the consolation prize being a man who threw an oversized dinner plate at people. Fury might just strangle them with his own bare hands the next time he sees them.

Any thought of repercussions or retaliations to his agents becomes secondary to the absolute _fear_ that rushes through his veins like ice when he gets the call.

The Tyke Island Facility has just gone offline. 

And just like that – fate _laughs_.

+++

If asked, and he’s not sure who would ask him, he would say that the worst part of the last few hours isn’t the pain or the realization that he’s dying. It’s the silence.

The absolute lack of any other stimuli outside of his own thoughts, which keep replaying the revelation given to him at the hands of Zemo and that damned video. It’s the lack of anything else to occupy his final moments with other than the playbacks of these last few years and the realization that he’s been the victim of yet _another_ long con.

First Obi. Now the Avengers.

Tony just can’t catch a break, can he? He just can’t seem to find people who share his vision and who actually care about him outside of Pepper, Happy or Rhodey.

Rhodey who was now paralyzed.

Pepper who wanted ‘space’.

Happy who he rarely sees or speaks to anymore now that he’s assigned to Pepper’s protection instead of Tony’s.

Tony had thought that he’d be fine though, after all he had the Avengers to fall back on. A ‘family’ that he’d tried to create and one that he’d destroyed everything that made him himself in order to try and please them, and yet they were never pleased.

The funniest thought crosses his mind as he lies there dying, and that’s that he should have trusted Ross. If he had worked with Ross, instead of holding out for Rogers and protecting him, then he could have ended all of this on the first day. If he’d worked with Ross instead of pleading with Rogers then the Accords would have already been a thing of the past. The world would have already moved on to the next big thing and forgot about this, but now it was going to be the forefront for who knew how long. Especially with Tony no longer in the picture to prevent it.

The consequences would be monstrous…and it all could have been avoided if Tony had just worked with Ross. If Tony hadn’t been so desperate to get his supposed ‘family’ on board at their own pace. Sure, Ross was a shark, a bigot who hated anything he couldn’t control; but if Tony had just taken the necessary ten minutes to talk to the man then he might not be lying here…dying.

Rogers left him to die.

As sad as it is, that thought doesn’t actually cause the shock and disbelief that Tony might have pretended that it would have once upon a time. The writing had been on the wall since their first spat in the helicarrier. Rogers would gladly be the bringer of his doom as long as he could do it with his own two hands. He’d do it with a smile and a stupid little self-righteous speech about how it had been necessary and how it was all Tony’s fault that it happened anyways.

Rogers was always the victim in his own eyes. The perpetual little guy screaming and beating down all others who dared not to share his views on everything.

God, what a fool he’d been. If he could do it all over again, the changes that he would make.

How had he allowed this to happen? How had he let himself get so twisted around and confused? How had he allowed himself to be the butt of each and every joke and how had he allowed them to get away with throwing the blame for everything at his feet and he just took it all quietly?

The worst part is, there’s still so much that he needs to do. So much that still needs to be planned for. Aliens were coming, and they were so much more than the world was ready to deal with. Not just them, but so many threats popping up around the world left and right like pimples on the face of a pubescent teenager and now Tony’s not going to have the chance to do anything about it.

Because this is how it ends for him. This is where the story cuts off, and he’ll never know everything that he could have done. He’ll never know if he could have succeeded. He’ll never even get the chance to _try_.

He prays that the world doesn’t follow after him. He prays that he’s as unimportant to the grand scheme of things as he hopes he is. As the Avengers have always been so quick to tell him he is.

He guesses that they’re all about to find out the truth.

Sadly, he wishes that they didn’t have to.

Tony struggles against the frozen air that he breathes in and he watches the exhale dance in the air for a few seconds before his eyes finally drift closed. The suits emergency secondary life support system isn’t able to help him anymore, and there’s no help coming for him because he came here trusting in the wrong man. He walked into his death with his eyes wide open and he still hadn’t seen it coming until it was too late.

He’s alone. In the dark and the cold. No one is going to come for him now. It’s all of his worst fears come into reality.

That’s the thought that would have been his final, when he hears it. The sound of footsteps crunching over lightly dusted, unpacked snow. The footsteps are quick and sure, and Tony wonders for a brief second if Rogers has returned, but he throws that out as soon as the idea tries to take root.

Rogers wouldn’t come back for him. He got to walk away feeling like he’d won. He won’t think twice about Tony, and he certainly won’t think twice about the consequences that he doesn’t have to pay for.

He’s on his last leg when the person stops beside him, and he can’t even find the strength at first to just open his eyes and see who it is. Not that it really matters anyways. He’s too far gone now to be wary or concerned about who has come. He can do the math, he’s done it already, and he knows that there’s no saving him now. So let Hydra have his corpse. It won’t do them much good, and he hopes that they try and touch the armor because the only system still running now is the self-destruct protocol. Let those bastards try and pry Tony from the suit to attempt to use it themselves. They’ll come to learn that even in death, Tony Stark does not take kindly to those trying to turn his machines into weapons for them to use.

The warm touch to his neck pulls him out of his internal thoughts and to the moment at hand. The contact almost burns with how cold he’s become. He can feel those fingers checking for a pulse and it makes Tony dig deep and use the last of his fading strength to just get a brief glimpse of who his final visitor is.

It takes him a few tries before he’s finally able to, and for a moment he can’t compute the face that comes into focus. The blue eyes of his final visitor meet his and the smile that spreads across the other’s face is the smile of a man who has never fully learned the trick behind it. It’s too cold, too calculating, even as the skin around those eyes crinkle in a mockery of warmth.

“My, my.” The other chides. “Look at what they’ve done to you, brother dearest.” Tony drags in enough frozen air into his lungs to whisper one word.

“Greg.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So massive change up to how I usually portray T'Challa, and that's mainly just for my own personal nod towards Chadwick Boseman. I may not like T'Challa's character or characterization or how Wakanda and everything with all of that was handled (sans the Dora who are awesome), but never let it be said that I didn't think that he played that character with charisma and charm and such a level of effortless badassery. 
> 
> Probably not going to become a common way to handle T'Challa for me, but for this I just wanted to change it up a little due to current events.
> 
> Also, there are some canon altering events mentioned here. Nothing major, just some slight changes in order to fit Greg into the universe that's building here. Plus, anyone who has the old file of 'Legacy' will notice that the story pretty much undergoes massive changes starting here. There's no need to have previous knowledge of the other version because these two versions are going to be completely different with just some shared scenes in the beginning chapters.

It feels as though he can’t get a break these last few days. Not with the Sokovia Accords still hovering over them, trying to collar and leash them from aiding the innocent to Bucky’s deteriorating mindset that even Wakanda can’t fix and his decision – or _joint_ decision they tell him, he feels like pointing out that he wasn’t involved in any ‘joint’ decisions and that he doesn’t feel like the word is a proper description of it because of that – to go back on the ice.

It’s nice to finally have somewhere to take a moment and just breathe, without a certain someone hovering over his shoulder trying to manipulate him into signing away his freedom and his duty to the people with those soulful eyes that Steve has never found the ability to trust in. He knows that Tony plays people, he does it as easy as breathing, so why would Steve believe any image that the man gives him? It could all be an act, a game that the billionaire is playing while the rest of them suffer.

And to a point, Steve’s reluctance to believe in Tony has proven true. Ever since he walked into the Compound hand in hand with Secretary Ross and decided to just nod along and throw his lot in with the man. This was the same person who had hunted Bruce into obscurity, and yet here was Bruce’s so-called ‘science bro’ being all chummy with him and basically selling out Bruce and the Avengers just for a little reprieve on his own guilty conscience.

The whole timing of this happening though is too convenient to be an accident. To have Peggy’s death coincide with Bucky’s reappearance and then Ross’s underhanded attempts and Tony’s betrayal. It felt like someone behind the scenes was laughing at Steve while simultaneously trying to rip his world out from underneath him.

Steve wonders a bit how annoyed that person is with the realization that their plan didn’t work. Tony might have turned the world against Bucky and Wanda, forcing Steve to stand up and show everyone that not every Avenger caved to political pressure at the expense of what was right, even at the cost of going ‘rogue’.

Although, going rogue seems to be a common state in Steve’s existence. He went rogue from the military when they only wanted him to be a performing monkey in heels in order to save an entire battalion. He went rogue and brought down Red Skull’s planes to his own detriment, believing that he would die. He went rogue when he woke up in this time and was able to find evidence of SHIELD’s underhanded dealings. He went rogue and was able to single handedly bring down Hydra-infested SHIELD a little while later. How was this so surprising to the man behind the curtain? Steve had a history of doing this and of coming out on top each and every single time. This would be no different, no matter who he turned his shield against.

It takes a few hours after Bucky, T’Challa and him leave Tony in Siberia before his heart stops pounding in his ears so loudly and before he can unclench his fists and take a deep breath knowing that he can stop waiting for Tony to show up around every corner.

That doesn’t mean that he’s able to fully relax in Wakanda, even with the rest of his team out of the RAFT and safe next to him. He can’t help but mull over Bucky’s ‘choice’ to be frozen again until the time comes that the technology can be made that can clear the triggers from his mind safely.

Steve gets it, to a point, of course he does. It has to be terrifying, to have this sort of blade at your throat twenty-four seven. Steve gets it. He’s had the serum and he’s had hundreds of people constantly wanting something or another from him ever since he got it; but that doesn’t mean that he should tuck his tail between his legs and cower and he doesn’t think that Bucky should either. Now is the time to show them all that Bucky’s the one in control, and that no one can stand in his way or try and make him do anything he doesn’t want to do.

But as everyone loves to keep saying to him, it’s ‘Bucky’s Choice’. That would be all well and good if Steve didn’t know that Bucky was only doing all of this out of fear and a misplaced guilt about Tony and Howard and out of fear of himself if someone figures out those words again. The worst part Steve thinks about this whole thing is that he knows that Bucky doesn’t _have_ to go in the ice. He knows that the technology that can fix him already exists, but that it’s in Tony’s hands right now. The B.A.R.F. program that’s practically been tailor made for Bucky’s condition and yet Steve already knows that Tony will guard it like a dragon just to spite Steve and punish Bucky for things that Bucky didn’t do. He won’t part with it unless he gets the pound of flesh that he thinks he’s owed from the ex-Winter Soldier, at least not willingly.

Unfortunately, right now Steve doesn’t have the ability to go get it. T’Challa was kind enough to help him break into the RAFT to go get the rest of his team, but he’s drawn some kind of strange arbitrary line in the sand when it comes to crossing Tony Stark.

_“I bear no ill-will towards Mr. Stark.” T’Challa had said when Steve asked why he wouldn’t help him out this one last time. “I easily could have at one point, before I had the chance to interact with him myself; but while we might have worked closely for only a short matter of time, in that time I found him to be an honorable man. A man backed in the corner and growing more and more desperate by the second, but honorable nonetheless.”_

_“He attacked Bucky for no reason.”_

_“Not for ‘no reason’ Captain.” T’Challa retorts calmly. “And wouldn’t I be a hypocrite to condemn him for such an action? I had only hearsay to go off of and yet my rage and my pain blinded me to everything else. Mr. Stark had actual visual proof play out in front of him and the perpetrator of that crime within arm’s reach. I cannot say that I would not have responded in a similar manner.”_

_“Bucky didn’t do it. It was Hydra.”_

_“Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, the truth is that Sergeant Barnes was in fact the method by which the Stark’s perished. No one will argue this simple fact, outside of the person standing in front of me, and no one will truly blame Mr. Stark for his reaction all things considered.”_

_“But B.A.R.F. could help Bucky. It could free him from Hydra’s control. Doesn’t getting it fall under your promise to him to help him?”_

_“Regardless if the B.A.R.F. program could or could not assist Sergeant Barnes, it is not mine to just come in and take without permission.”_

_“You helped us with the RAFT. How could getting B.A.R.F. be any harder?”_

_“Ignoring how Mr. Stark’s security system is nothing at all like a government facilities system, I did not aid you just to aid you.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Mr. Stark’s hands would have been tied, but the technology that Ross was in possession of was dangerous and required immediate action. I can only assume that Mr. Stark agreed with my decision since he did not launch a counter attack which would have been devastating to all sides.”_

_“You trusted Tony to not rat you out to Ross?”_

_“I trusted Mr. Stark to recognize the danger that certain people getting their hands on technology that they were ill-prepared to have would cause a bigger catastrophe than a few people moved and monitored here would do. I have no right to touch either Mr. Stark’s technology nor Mr. Pym’s. I do not feel that Secretary Ross would feel the same. That is why I aided you in retrieving the Avengers.”_

Unfortunately, T’Challa’s been a dead end on that front, at least for now, and so Steve realizes that he’s going to have to blink first in order to get what he needs from Tony. So he tries to be the friend that Tony had claimed to Sam that he was going to be when he tricked Sam into giving him the location of where Steve and Bucky were going. He sits down and he pens out a letter, inwardly amused about how he thinks Tony’s face will look when he sees something so out of time like a handwritten letter. Maybe that’ll make him take notice better. Maybe he’ll actually take the time to read the words that Steve is saying and actually listen for once. Maybe it’ll help him realize why what happened had to happen and how Steve’s sorry that Tony feels hurt over it all, but that he’s not sorry about what he’s done nor should he be; and that deep down Steve knows that Tony knows that too.

So he extends the first olive branch, takes that first stepping stone to cross the gap that Tony’s made between them. He hands off the letter to the king and the phone that he picked up while on the run with Bucky and the king just nods saying that it’ll be delivered and Steve lets that weight fall off of him.

The call from Fury comes in a few hours after the RAFT breakout and shortly after Bucky goes into the ice. Steve’s still in the room, staring at the cryogenically frozen version of his best friend knowing that there’s nothing he can do for him right now. There’s no enemy to punch in the jaw to make this go away. There’s no easy answer about how to fix him that doesn’t lead back to Tony and Steve stands there in muted frustration at the injustice of it all.

Natasha’s arrival in the room surprises him, her soft touch on his arm startling him before he sees who it is and accepts the small hug she gives him in the best attempt of comfort that she can give him.

“Nat? What are you doing here? When did you get here?” Steve asks and she gives him a small grin.

“I have my ways.” She says, giving him a wink and he gives her a look and she chuckles. “Okay fine. I called T’Challa’s cell and asked to be extracted wo where he was keeping the rest of my team after Tony practically dropped me in Ross’s lap for what I did at the airport.” She says and already Steve feels that tension headache that he’s always associated with Tony re-emerge. “Potts won’t let me in the door to keep an eye on things and so I came here to see how I might be of help to someone actually willing to listen to me.” Steve nods and gives her a small smile, mentioning offhandedly how he’s happy that she’s here and they both walk back to the main area where the rest of the team has bunkered down. Steve tries to ignore the strange women who seem to always be nearby, watching them like hawks and he makes a mental note to ask T’Challa about that and if he can order them to back off the unnecessary guard routine.

Nat’s barely gotten done explaining what happened, and Rhodes’s condition, before a phone in her pocket goes off and she takes it immediately, the way her body language shifts telling Steve that it’s Fury on the other side of it. She makes a few agreeing comments before she hands the phone to Steve who takes it immediately.

“Hello?” He asks and he’s a little surprised with how quickly Fury speaks. Normally the man is calm, taking a moment before answering anything as if subconsciously telling everyone that they’re on his time and not the other way around.

“Where is Stark?” He asks and Steve frowns. How should he know?

“Tony? He’s not here.”

“I didn’t ask where he wasn’t, I asked where he is.” Fury snaps and Steve jolts a little, surprised at the harsh tone.

“Why?”

“I need to speak with him. Sooner rather than later.” Fury’s voice sounds strained and almost distracted and it raises red flags in Steve’s mind. What has Tony done in so short a time that’s already causing a big enough problem for Fury that Fury’s reaching out to Steve to get ahold of him and probably strangle him.

“Why?” Steve repeats his question again.

“Just tell me Rogers. You were the last to talk to him. Did he say anything that might tell you where he was going? Did he leave you a way to get in contact with him in an emergency? If he did, I need it and I need it now.”

“What’s happened?” Steve asks and he hears Fury let out a frustrated curse in the background. It forces Steve to bite back the kneejerk reaction of ‘language’ that’s become a cornerstone response to situations like that. He rather doubts that the master spy would appreciate it though, like the Avengers did.

“Give me the contact Rogers. Now.”

“I don’t have one.” Steve says. “And I don’t know where he is now or where he would have gone after Siberia.”

“Give me the coordinates.” Fury says and Steve does. “Did he leave before or after you? Is it possible that he’s still there?” Steve thinks about Tony lying on the ground, crushed chest plate and blood on his face as he snarled at him.

“I doubt it.” Steve replies. “There wasn’t really anything there for him to do. I would have guessed that he’d go check in on Rhodes. Ask him or Pepper.”

“Hill says that Potts hasn’t heard anything from Stark since he left the RAFT to go track you down. They’re still waiting for some kind of response to her calls.” Fury says and that makes Steve pause. Since when does Tony not answer Pepper’s calls? He’s even done it mid battle, cutting off communication so that he can flirt with his girlfriend back home. He’d even confessed once that he’d tried to contact Pepper when he was taking the nuke to space, hoping to just hear her voice one more time even if it was selfish.

“What happened?” Fury asks suddenly and already Steve is considering what to say. He doesn’t want to say everything; that’s between Tony, Bucky and him, but he does understand the necessity of getting ahold of Tony before the moron goes and makes another Ultron just for kicks and giggles.

“We captured Zemo and verified that the threat of the Winter Soldier core was finished.” Steve says carefully, toeing the line as closely as he possibly can. “We had a disagreement on what to do with Bucky and we separated.”

“That’s it?” Fury says baffled. “What was the disagreement?”

“I don’t really think that matters sir.”

“It matters. With what’s just happened, it matters.”

“What’s happened.”

“What was the disagreement Rogers?”

“…he wanted to kill Bucky.” Steve admits finally. “He found out about the Hydra hit on Howard and his wife and he snapped. Wouldn’t listen to reason.”

“…This disagreement…was it only verbal Rogers?”

“No sir. Tony attacked us; we were forced to put him down.”

“He’s alive, right?” Fury presses and he sounds so strained and Steve feels insulted that Fury could ever assume that Steve would just kill a man.

“Of course.” He snaps back. “I’m not a murderer.”

“Tell me that the two of you just separated ways. No harm, no foul.”

“…Not exactly.” Steve hedges.

“Rogers now is not the fucking time. You fought, Stark let you win and walk away. Okay, fine. Where is he now? How compromised emotionally was he in those final moments?”

“Tony didn’t _let_ us win. He was trying to kill us and he failed.”

“He let you win.” Fury restates like it’s the obvious truth and it makes Steve’s teeth grind. “Now answer my questions. How was Stark when you saw him last?”

“The suit was broken, but he probably called for backup.” Steve answers. “Ask FRIDAY.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Steve asks. “Why can’t you?”

“Because Rogers.” Fury says, sounding like he’s at the edge of his patience. “While you were breaking people out of the RAFT, FRIDAY initiated a purge of all SHIELD monitoring programs within Stark’s databases.”

“What?”

“And now, I’m left trying to find Stark and praying that he didn’t do what I fear he might have.” 

“What do you think he did? And why would he tell FRIDAY to attack SHIELD? What does that accomplish?” Steve asks worriedly, and the others come closer with varying looks of curiosity on their faces and there’s a pause before Fury answers him.

“Put Romanov on the phone.” Fury says instead of answering him and Steve shakes his head even though he knows that Fury can’t see it.

“With all due respect sir, you can talk to me.”

“Give the damn phone over to Romanov now, Rogers. There’s no time for this. Fuck, it’s possibly already too late. If we don’t find Stark quickly, and bring him to heel then it sure as damn hell already is too late.”

“Too late? Too late for what? You’re not making any sense.” Steve argues with a small amount of frustration winding through his voice. “Be clear Fury. What’s happening?”

“Put Romanov on the phone, can’t be any clearer than that.” Fury growls and Steve’s about to snap back but Natasha seems to register that Fury’s asking for her and she comes over and takes the phone from his fingers and puts it up to her own ear.

“Sir?” She says and she falls silent for a few moments, listening to whatever Fury is saying on the other side. Steve isn’t sure how to respond when he sees her eyes widen and there’s a look of… _something_ on the spy’s face. “How long? What do we know?”

“What is it?” Steve asks and she just holds up a finger to tell him to wait.

“No sir, I just got here.” She says and she waits before she shakes her head. “No sir, I don’t think it’s possible. Even with the information about the Winter Soldier’s hit, he wouldn’t dare unshackle him. Not for anything in the world.” There’s another pause. “Contingencies sir?” The answer must not be one she wants or likes because her lips tighten in obvious displeasure. “I understand, we’ll get right on it sir. Yes sir, I understand sir. I will sir.” She pauses. “…you too.” She says before she hangs up the phone with a kind of carefulness that makes the hairs on the back of Steve’s neck rise.

She’s unsettled…no, more than that. She’s _afraid_. What could have possibly done that to someone like the Black Widow, and what does it have to do with Tony? What has Tony done now?

“Nat? Nat what’s happened? What did Fury say? What the fuck did Stark fuck up now?” Clint asks, stepping forward and voicing the question that Steve’s been asking on repeat since the start of this whole situation. Natasha takes a moment, taking a deep breath before she glances up and looks Clint in the eyes.

“The Tyke Island Facility went offline.” She says the words with the weight of someone uttering a doomsday warning, and Steve notices how the archer seems to lose a shade or two of color in his own face at the information.

“Fuck, wait that’s not… _fuck._ ” He says, stumbling over the words that he’s trying to say and running his hands through his hair. “Stark would _never_.” He says and Steve feels like he’s matching the looks of confusion on Wanda’s, Scott’s and Sam’s faces. “He would never.” He repeats.

“What’s the Tyke Facility?” Sam asks curiously. “And what’s there that Stark let out?”

“Tony wouldn’t have let him out.” Natasha says with a shake of her head. “Never in a million years. Not even to get in front of these threats that he’s so afraid of.” She pauses. “Tony understands better than anyone how he would be so much worse than anything out there.”

“He who?” Steve asks, trying to get the answers that everyone seems to be dancing around and he watches Clint and Nat share some kind of meaningful look. “He who, Nat?”

“Gregory Stark.” She says, and she says the name like one might utter something when they don’t want to be fully overheard. Like the sheer choice to say it out loud might make the man himself manifest in the room with them.

“Gregory Stark? Who’s Gregory Stark?” Steve asks, not recognizing the name.

“Gregory Stark, is Tony’s twin brother.” She says and Wanda makes an annoyed kind of sound.

“There’s two of them?” She asks with a barely veiled sneer and the looks she gets from the two spies silences her.

“Wait, Tony has a brother?” Steve asks surprised. “I’ve never heard anything about that. Why didn’t Tony ever mention him?” Inwardly, Steve wants to sigh. Of course Tony would be angry at Steve for ‘keeping secrets by omission’ but yet here he was, sitting on information like this.

“He wouldn’t.” Clint says. “To the world, Gregory Stark has been dead for years.”

“What does that mean?” Sam asks.

“Gregory has been kept under…close confined supervision for a long time.” Nat says carefully. “Stark and SHIELD have been secretly keeping him on lockdown where he was supposed to stay until the day he died.”

“Tony locked up his own brother?” Steve says, somehow surprised about that information.

“No, Howard and Peggy locked him away. Thankfully, when they died, Tony saw the necessity of it, so he never spoke out or acted against it.”

“Why would he do that?” Scott asks and there’s that shared look again between the SHIELD agents.

“Gregory Stark…one could say that he was everything that Howard wished for; and the one thing he feared more than anything when he got it.” She replies. “He’s…it’s hard to describe what he is. Many have tried to put a label on him, but nothing has ever truly stuck. As brilliant as Tony is, maybe even more so, and yet possessing no discernable morality. Psychopathic, sociopathic, he’s been called many things and yet no one has ever fully managed to get a full picture of everything that Gregory is.” 

“Dangerous.” Clint throws in. “Machiavellian in nature, and more dangerous than a simple conversation could ever convince you of.”

“How could one man be that scary?” Steve asks and Nat huffs.

“Imagine a Tony Stark clone if you will, just as brilliant but this one has no emotional investment in _anything_ outside of what he considers his. No discernable empathy for anything in the world, no evidence of remorse or what anyone would consider a conscience and who is a master manipulator with a sadistic streak.”

“If he’s so dangerous, why didn’t SHIELD just…you know…” Scott makes a motion where he drags his thumb across his neck.

“In the beginning, the answer was usefulness. Most of Howard’s designs at the end were all Gregory’s. A lot of SHIELD’s initial resources: weapons, armor, computer systems, communications, you name it and it was Gregory who created the original template for it all. SHIELD’s not in the habit of not utilizing resources regardless of the origin’s mental state and there wasn’t an idea that Howard could steal and claim credit for that he didn’t immediately do so.” Natasha replies. “After Howard died though, Tony protected Gregory from any attempts SHIELD might have allegedly taken to handle the problem. He’s been taking care of him in the Tyke Island Facility ever since.”

“If he’s been happily locked up for who knows how long, why break out now?” Sam asks and Nat gets a thoughtful look.

“If I had to guess, it was because something major happened to Tony.” She says. “People who hurt Tony tend to…disappear in strange ways.”

“But he’s been locked up, how could he do anything?”

“There’s no proof, but there are patterns.” Nat says. “Information leaked to Rhodes about the Ten Rings before the entire operation was wiped out after Tony was rescued. All of AIM’s scientists have been found dead since the Mandarin attack on Tony, and various others.”

“How do you know that’s not just Stark doing it?” Wanda points out and Steve nods a little at that as he looks at Nat.

“Not Tony’s style.” Is what she replies with. “But like I said, it’s all assumptions. There’s no real evidence linking it back. Only a common thread in all of their stories.”

“Wait, Stark kept this guy locked up right? So why would he care about helping Tony? Shouldn’t he hate him?” Sam asks and Wanda huffs.

“Everyone should hate Stark.” She mutters under her breath.

“No, Gregory and Tony are…well one could say that they’re on good terms. Or as good of terms that they could be considering all of the… _history_ there.”

“Why?” Scott asks. “I mean, if my brother went and kept me locked up for years, I think I’d hold a grudge.”

“Gregory doesn’t resent Tony in any way.” Natasha says after a bit. “Bucks against him, challenges his world views and mocks him with the walls that don’t really keep him contained; but Tony has always been the one thing that Gregory has never had any issue making sure the entire world knew was his.” She shifts a bit. “And Tony has always made sure that Gregory has had every single comfort and resource that he could ever want or require. Gregory might have been physically kept from the world, but he was never kept apart from it. Tony wouldn’t allow it and Gregory stayed on Tyke Island as a reward for it. A strange sort of push and pull between the two of them over all these years.”

“So Fury thinks that Stark let him out of the box?” Steve asks and Nat shakes her head.

“Fury’s more afraid that Gregory let himself out of the box, and that he’s going straight for Tony than he is with the idea that Tony could have done something so monumentally stupid.” She replies. “Tony knows we’ve already got enough problems, there’d be no way that he’d let out such a major one on top of all of that.”

“But you said that Gregory liked Tony. Why would Fury be worried about him meeting up with him?” Scott asks and Clint and Nat do that look thing again.

“He’s not worried for Tony in the way you think he is.” Nat says carefully. “The only thing that kept Gregory at bay was Tony, but now things are different. Tony’s been groomed to be in an extremely fragile state by us for the last few years. Gregory could very easily come onto the scene and twist Tony around into something terrifying. The damage that he could do if he finally got Tony to stand at his side after all these years is….it’s unquantifiable.” She gets a faraway look for a moment and Steve wonders what she’s thinking about, what data she’s running over in her head that she isn’t sharing. “No, Fury isn’t worried for Tony. He’s worried about _everyone else_ , because if Tony doesn’t decide to step up to the plate again, then there’s no one who could stop Gregory this time.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got this one all edited and was reading all of your reviews and decided to post it right away! :-) Thank you for the reviews and I hope you're strapped in for the next few parts coming your way!
> 
> Trying to pin down Gregory and Tony's relationship in this with all of the baggage that I know is there is actually a challenge. A fun challenge though, so there is that at least. Hope you like it!

When FRIDAY had reached out to her on behalf of some ‘mysterious third-party buyer’ for the old Cradle destroyed during the Ultron event, Helen had been more than a little caught off guard. Despite the obvious identity of who the ‘mysterious buyer’ would have to be considering who was brokering the deal, Helen found herself wondering why Tony Stark was acting outside of his usual pattern of behaviors. In the past, Tony had rarely indicated that he’d wanted to come in and step on her toes with her newly created technology without Helen’s initial request. He’d always been concerned that anything that it would go on to become would be overshadowed or attributed to him if his hands had been on it in any other way than funding and Helen had always appreciated his stance.

Science and progress were the two loves of Tony Stark’s life, and he was always happy to offer monetary aid when the situation arose in order to help further them. Helen can’t even begin to fathom the sheer number of breakthroughs in science and engineering that the world had had, and would go on to have, because of the love affair that the richest man in the world had with them. ‘The Future’, Tony’s Stark’s greatest mistress and yet, even with that Tony Stark had habits and limits. So this whole under the table buy of the damaged equipment seemed shady at best, and a sign that things were much worse off in the Avengers household then Tony had allowed the world to fully register. Had someone been badly hurt? She’d offer him a working Cradle if that were the case and she knew he knew that. So what was this then? A preparation for hard times ahead? Was Tony Stark truly so afraid of the damage that Steve Rogers and his team had made that he was starting to prepare for a real war?

FRIDAY gives her no answers, but Helen figures that it’s just gathering pointless dust in a backroom so she agrees to the buyout for a very healthy sum of money that will go on to keep her own projects funded for quite some time.

She’d been expecting the Avengers jet to pull up to the landing pad and for the whole team to greet her despite the media proclaiming that the Avengers had split down the middle. It had to be a ploy, it had to be something that Tony was playing to his own benefit somehow. She might not see the benefits of it yet, but she didn’t doubt that Tony Stark could find something workable in all of this. What she got instead was a Stark Jet landing on the landing pad and a ghost walking out to greet her and receive the machine.

“Dr. Cho.” The man with a familiar facial structure greets, yet there’s none of the warmth present in his blue eyes that she registers with Tony Stark. Tony always managed to make her feel like they were old friends sharing a secret between them each time they met back up and she didn’t register that she expected something similar out of someone who bore such an uncanny resemblance to him to do as well until he didn’t. “Gregory Stark, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He shakes her hand and for some reason she’s taken aback by the fact that it’s not cold. She expected cold, something about this man has _made_ her cold just being in his presence. Like what she feels the rabbit might experience when it makes eye contact with the fox.

“ _Gregory_ Stark?” Helen repeats the name. “Aren’t you…”

“Dead?” Gregory asks with a small quirk of his lips. “I’m sure many would wish so.” He looks around the landing pad. “Where is the Cradle?”

“Where is Tony?” She says and something makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand up when his gaze comes back around onto her. “I expected to see Tony, since FRIDAY set this whole thing up.”

“My brother is…currently unavailable. It seems as though the world must suffice with me for a time in his stead.” Gregory replies calmly. “Although I am on a very tight schedule, and uninterested in small talk as you can imagine.” He motions a hand towards the building. “The machine if you please.” She nods quickly and goes over to the area where the machine is waiting for someone to come collect it. Gregory gives it a kind of quick glance over when she pulls it out for him, reaching out at one point and opening the damaged circuit boards before making a kind of humming noise that she thinks might be pleased. “I expect discretion.” Gregory says to her as the automated loading dock takes the machine on board. His words are spoken in that completely calm tone, delivered like a king expecting his order to be obeyed and thinking nothing more of it. He certainly makes Helen think of a king, a snow king with his cold demeanor and crisp white suit.

“Who would I tell?” She mutters more to herself but she gives a quick nod when he catches her gaze again. “Where is Tony?” She can’t help but ask and Gregory motions to the plane.

“He’s on board.” He replies and she tries to see behind him onto the plane for the brunet Stark that she’s used to dealing with. “Forgive him for being unable to greet you himself.”

“…Is he okay?” She asks, thinking about the whole situation in a new light. “If he needs a Cradle, I can let him use the working one. I don’t have to mark it down in the usage if he needs…discretion.” She says and there’s a moment before an almost charming grin comes onto Gregory’s face. She thinks she might have been taken in by it if he’d led with it, but with how it shifts the entire persona in front of her it makes her feel more like she’s dealing with something closer to the uncanny valley.

“We appreciate the offer; but unnecessary. We have everything we need.” He turns and goes back onto the plane, and Helen stands there as it flies away.

+++

“I’m curious why you believe that I would help either SHIELD or your little group of terrorists in any way, Miss Romanov.” Pepper’s voice comes over the small phone’s speakers and Steve feels mild irritation at the strangely hostile, yet dismissive tone that the CEO of Stark Industries is taking with them. He’s not surprised by it, there’d be no way he could be since Pepper has been rather clear in her obvious dislike for the Avengers and for the role that the Avengers played as members of Tony’s extended family.

“Pepper, this is different.” Natasha tries to reason with her. “This is so much bigger than all of us. If you know anything about where Gregory is or where Tony is right now, then we need to know so that we can go help him.”

“ _Help_ him?” Pepper catches onto that word and there’s rage there. “I’m sorry, when have any of you ever _helped_ Tony? Helped yourself _to_ Tony, sure I’ll give that; but _helped_ him? The only thing you’ve ever helped him with is helping him over a cliff by shoving him.”

“I know that you don’t agree with us, or even like us, but that doesn’t matter right now. What do you think will happen to Tony if Gregory finds him before we do?” Natasha presses and there’s silence.

“You know what I think?” Pepper asks. “I think that you still don’t give a damn about Tony. I think you’re worried about what happens to _you_ if Gregory gets to him before you can get your claws back in him.”

“Pepper-”

“Ms. Potts.” Pepper cuts her off firmly. “And I’m well aware of just how scared you must be. Patterns, right? I’m sure you know about the patterns.” There’s a threat there. “Well I’m going to be honest. After seeing Rhodey in the hospital and seeing all of those injured civilians in Germany and having FRIDAY give me a breakdown of the suits integrity after it’s life support went _offline_ and Tony never checked in…” Her voice catches a little and Steve feels a moment of confusion at why that would be before the words bounce around in his head for a moment and he registers what she’s saying. “I hope that all of Tony’s fears about Gregory are true, and I hope he comes for you.”

“Pepper, I understand that you’re angry but Gregory is a step too far. Not just for us, but for the world.” Natasha says and it must be so frustrating to have to make her voice soft and understanding just to play to someone who won’t listen to reason. Sometimes, Steve admires her a little for the self-control that it must take in order to stomp down the need to just throttle someone into doing what’s right and have to coerce them into it like a misbehaving child being given candy just to stop their bad behavior. “If you want to come at us, then come at us. Fine, we deserve it; but Gregory is a nuclear response to something that only requires a bullet. Help us stop him before he does something that none of us can undo.”

“That’s where we’re not on the same page.” Pepper replies. “I hope Gregory _does_ do something that can’t be undone. I hope he wipes SHIELD and all of you out of the history books. _Forever_. I hope whatever it is that he has planned for you is so absolute and so terrible that _no one_ will ever dream of following in your footsteps. That’s what I hope he does. Now lets make a bet on who is going to be happy at the end of all of this, and who is going to be _dead_.”

“Pepper please.” Natasha begs and Steve almost wants to say that Nat shouldn’t bother to lower herself if Pepper can’t be made to see reason. “You’ve only ever heard the stories. I doubt that Tony told you everything about what happened, about what Gregory’s done. I bet that he’s undersold just who it is that you’re dealing with here.”

“I don’t doubt that he did.” Pepper says. “But I know enough. I know that you all pretended that Tony was some evil, immortal devil just so that you could beat him down and treat him like crap while getting fat off of how he bled for you. Now though, now the _real_ monster has come calling and you’re _afraid_. Because you know what you did. You know it’s time to pay the piper.” There’s a soft huff and Steve can just imagine Pepper shaking her head. “I’m not Tony and I’m not interested in saving you from your own mistakes.”

“Pepper, be reasonable, please.” Natasha tries again and Pepper just lets out a harsh sort of huff.

“Not interested. What I will do for you is this though, let King T’Challa know that he’s got five hours before I inform the Accord’s Council and Secretary Ross that you’ve contacted me from a location that registers in the area of Wakanda’s country limits.” Natasha goes to say something, but the call disconnects on Pepper’s side and they’re all left standing there, staring at a phone that no longer has anyone on the other side.

Not that Pepper was listening anyways. Sometimes Steve had caught himself wondering what a gal like Pepper saw in a guy like Stark; but then Stark gave her the keys to the kingdom and Steve figured that answered that question. Now though, now he’s realizing that Potts and Stark are two people cut from the same cloth. Willing to let innocent people get hurt just for their wounded egos.

“We need a plan Nat.” Clint is saying in the background and Nat runs a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture that Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen Nat make before.

“Yeah…yeah we do.”

“Let’s hope it’ll be enough.” Clint mutters and Nat lets out a shaky kind of sigh.

“It won’t be.”

+++

 ** _“Come now, little brother.”_** The voice speaks to him, calls to him from the darkness of the void. **_“You’re not beaten yet, are you?”_**

There are flashes that come to him while he waits in the dark. A strange series of disjointed memories. Hazy recollections and half-remembered events all twisting together into something not fully recognizable, yet somehow still as familiar as his own heartbeat.

There are images and sounds that rush up to the forefront at the call of that voice.

Images of a room encased in dual layers of bulletproof glass.

Memories of Howard’s inability to maintain eye contact for long with those blue eyes that seemed to fillet him to his very core.

A GO game, unfinished and resting between them.

 _“I’ll be white.”_ That voice says, amusement curling through it. The GO board is gone, it’s replaced with a chess game. It doesn’t matter, the white pieces are always on the opposite side of the board from him. Always white. White suits, white rooms, white pawns.

_“Nothing is more intellectually unsatisfying than the common man’s need to fit everything within the simple dichotomy of black and white. Right and wrong binary. The opiate of the uneducated mind.”_

A voice that speaks to a rivalry of sorts. Of a back and forth game played on all levels. On all the levels that matter and all of the ones that don’t.

_“Impress me, little brother.”_

Circuit boards, robot plans, an innocent hope for what will come when he takes over the company. He’s only ever wanted to create, to give birth to life and not continue their families history of death.

_“Impress me, little brother.”_

The first bomb he made, the first time he improves upon Howards designs. Praise and approval in those blue eyes, a small tilt of the lips that only he ever sees. It’s genuine; they always tell him that he can’t truly be genuine but he’s seen it before. He knows he can.

_“Impress me, little brother.”_

A new element, space travel, rebranding the future, the armor that is both his greatest achievement and his worst, clean self-sustaining energy, always pushing and always turning to him to see his reaction.

Are you impressed yet? Have I impressed you yet?

 ** _“Wake up Anthony.”_** The voice commands. **_“This is not how you end. I won’t allow it. Show me that stubbornness you’re known for. Come now, little brother. Impress me.”_**

+++

It’s odd sitting in the giant warehouse opposite of Fury. It’s a far cry from the elegant and modern office buildings that Steve is used to. On some level, it makes him think of the time that they were all hiding out from Hydra during the Project Insight event and how they were forced to squat in places like this. Funny that Tony always got angry with Steve anytime Steve or Sam wanted to bond over the good times they had and the amazing feats that they pulled off during that whole event. Steve saved the world, and Tony never could get past his own ego to see that. Always so quick to try and pretend like the casualties that happened wouldn’t have happened if Steve had called Tony in.

Sometimes, Steve wonders if Tony thinks he’s a god. He certainly puffs himself up like one.

Now though, now Steve and the Avengers are crouched out in a place so similar to that time and this time it’s not Hydra they’re against, but Tony. Somewhere in Steve’s mind he knows that he knew it was always going to come to this.

T’Challa forced them to leave Wakanda after Steve revealed that they’d broken the rule that he’d set up and made an external call to Pepper. He told them that they’d put Wakanda in danger and that he could no longer justify keeping them within the borders of his country if Steve and his team couldn’t be trusted to follow simple rules. T’Challa had given them an ultimatum, either go under severe house arrest akin to Tony’s own internment of Wanda, or leave the safety of Wakanda without their tech.

Scott had put up a fight, and even Steve had argued that none of that was the king’s to keep.

_“It is not yours either, Captain Rogers.” T’Challa states and the women who have been hovering in the shadows at every corner seem to be all around them and Steve knows that the other shoe has dropped. “That armor and all of these weapons are Mr. Starks and will be returned to Stark Industries post-haste. The Ant-Man suit will be returned to Pym Technologies as well. I give you my word.”_

_“How can we trust that?”_

_“Of the two of us, I am not the one who said that I would adhere to certain rules and then broke them within the first forty-eight hours.”_

In the end, T’Challa had won that fight, if only for the fact that Steve didn’t feel like overthrowing a monarch that day. Plus, most of that stuff would be replaced by Tony the moment that they were able to get all of this handled and put behind them anyways, so there was no need to burn bridges with the young king.

“Potts has taken over all the Stark subsidiaries that Stark was still in charge of and has broken off all connection with SHIELD.” Coulson is saying and honestly Steve’s still reeling at the knowledge that Coulson is still alive. Did Tony know about that? Did he keep that a secret too? How many secrets was he keeping from them all while pretending that theirs were so much heavier? “She’s also reached out to several media outlets to give interviews condemning the Avengers who went against the Accords and has revealed SHIELD’s continued existence to the world at large.”

“She’s declaring war.” Hill says with a sigh. “Now that Stark isn’t reigning her in, she’s coming for blood.”

“Just how scary could Pepper be?” Scott asks with a small smile. “Sure, she can get in front of the camera, but at the end of the day she’s just Stark’s girlfriend right?”

“Stark’s _ex_ -girlfriend, who is the CEO of the largest company in the world, and who has spent over a decade learning how to navigate all levels of media and political events from the master.” Hill says with a frown. “Pepper Potts has stayed at Stark’s side not because they dated, but because she was as good as he was at managing the company and everything that came along with it. Do you really think Stark would have handed off the company to her to run if he didn’t trust that she could do it?”

“That’s Stark Industries though.” Steve points out. “That doesn’t have anything to do with SHIELD or the Avengers.”

“They’re one in the same in the end, if you know how to play your cards right.” Hill says. “And Potts is the best damn card player you’re ever going to find outside of Stark himself.” Hill pauses. “She might even be better, because she knows when to cut her losses whereas Stark tends to let his emotions guide him a little bit longer than she’ll allow.”

“What do we know?” Natasha asks, getting them all back on track from where the conversation has deviated. “Any news on Stark yet?”

“A jet returned to Tyke Island. Stark model, but no one can get in there to verify who was on it.” Coulson says and Steve notes how Fury still hasn’t spoken up and is just tapping his fingers on the table in a way that seems to make the two ex-SHIELD spies cringe every now and then.

“Why not just go in there and check?” Sam asks and he gets a look from Hill like he’s a moron.

“Stark intentionally built defense systems into Tyke Island to keep organizations like the World Council and SHIELD out of there. How do you propose we get around that now when we weren’t able to for the last several decades?” She asks.

“Well Tony’s not in charge anymore right?” Steve points out. “Maybe we can sneak in under the radar.”

“Even if we were stupid enough to consider that.” Hill says. “And that’s a _big_ ‘if’, we have reason to believe that one of Stark’s AI programs is helping Gregory. Possibly even FRIDAY itself.”

“Why would FRIDAY help Gregory?” Sam asks.

“If helping Gregory means helping Stark, what makes you think FRIDAY would hesitate?” Hill asks and that makes them all go quiet.

“So it’s possible that FRIDAY’s gone rogue? Is this going to be like Ultron all over again?” Scott asks looking around. “Because the other guy took my suit and I’m not going to be a lot of help on the front lines if that’s the case.”

“FRIDAY is nothing like Ultron.” Coulson says with a wave of his hand. “Ultron was a hostile pre-existing extra-terrestrial threat residing in the Mind Stone. FRIDAY is a Stark created AI program. They’re two completely different entities with two completely different end goals.”

“It can’t be all that different.” Wanda says. “Stark made Ultron, doesn’t that mean that all his other programs could go the same way?” She gets a ‘are you fucking kidding me’ looks from all three of the SHIELD leaders on the other side of the table.

“Tony Stark has been making AI programs and robots for almost longer than you’ve been alive.” Fury says, finally joining the conversation. “If there’s one thing that Stark _couldn’t_ fuck up, it’s an AI robot.”

“Stark made Ultron.” Wanda repeats firmly.

“Every single person in this room knows very well that he fucking did not.” Fury retorts. “And on the subject of Stark and fuck-ups, what the _fuck_ were you all thinking?” Nat and Clint cringe once more, but Steve settles back his shoulders. He refuses to apologize for what Tony made them do.

“I defended myself and my friend from someone unwilling to listen to reason. It was self-defense, I didn’t attack him, he attacked us.” Steve says firmly. “And I’m not sorry sir, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’m sorry if Tony got a little hurt, I am, but I didn’t go into that situation intending for it to go down the way it did. I only responded to the situation that he created.”

“You think I’d give a fuck about any of that even if it were true?” Fury asks him and Steve’s jaw clenches. “The Winter Soldier versus Tony Stark. Even a child knows that’s not a competition.”

“Bucky was innocent.”

“Lie to yourself but stop trying to peddle it around because nobody is buying it Captain.” Fury retorts. “All that effort and all that work, down the drain now because you decided to flounce off with your old Hydra remade war buddy while flipping off the entire world and these fucking morons _followed you_.” He looks at Nat and Clint now. “So tell me before _I_ put a bullet in you long before Gregory Stark does, what the fuck were you thinking?” The two ex-spies say nothing.

“They were thinking that the Accords were wrong.” Steve says and Fury’s one eye levels on him.

“Shut the fuck up Rogers.” He snaps before looking back at them. “The Accords? The Accords are a fucking joke. Stark could have had those rewritten and rebranded in a month’s time if we’d properly motivated him. Now though instead of my little spider at his side spinning her webs, he’s got Gregory Fucking Stark there.” He taps his fingers on the table again. “I’m not happy Romanov. I’m very, _very_ unhappy. And I’m wondering what further use you have to me so you better start explaining why I should reconsider throwing you to the wolf and trying to save as much of SHIELD as I possibly can.”

“I made a mistake sir, I realized it afterwards but I can still fix it.” Natasha tells him. “I’ll admit that I thought that Stark was further along on the schedule for the breakdown than he was and he pushed back when I pushed too hard.” She gives him an assured look. “Gregory isn’t going to put him back together anytime soon, there’s no benefit to him doing so, so there’s still time. If we can get to him, I know that I can fix this. He’ll believe in us even more if we come in and risk Gregory to come ‘save’ him.” Fury seems to think about Natasha’s words before he sighs and nods.

“Fine, I’m going to go out on a limb here Romanov. You know how much I don’t like being left out on limbs.” He gives her a look and she nods once.

“You can trust me sir, I’ll get the job done.”

“I like you Romanov. I always have, ever since Barton brought you to us.” He says to her. “This is your last chance. We’ll help you get onto Tyke Island, but after that the rest is up to you. If you can’t get Stark to see reason and collar Gregory, then you’re of no use to me.”

“I can do it. It’ll get done.” The Black Widow says with a dangerous sort of calmness in her tone that reminds Steve that this is one of the most prolific spy assassins in the world.

“We can do it.” Steve says in agreeance with Nat’s stance. “Tony will listen to us. He always does in the end because he knows that we’re right.” Fury gives him a long look before he nods.

“Go get some rest, your team is going to need it.” He waves for them to leave and they all thank him a final time before they head out of the room, going over to the place where some rations have been set up alongside air mattresses.

“We’re going to need a plan.” Nat says. “I can get past some of Tony’s security from the upgrades I’ve kept over the years that he gave me, but who knows what’s waiting for us in there. Nothing is going to be worth anything if we can’t actually make it to Tony.”

“We’ve got Wanda.” Sam points out. “And we’ve got Steve. Seems to me that we’ve got our plan mostly covered.”

“I’ll handle any Stark that gets in my way.” Wanda says, letting her powers curl around her fingers. “I _promise_.” Steve nods before motioning to the beds.

“Let’s get some shut eye first, and then we’ll come up with a plan in the morning when we’re a little less riled up.”

+++

“Sir?” Hill asks with a frown once Rogers and his little cult followers have left the area. “There’s no way we can get them on Tyke Island without getting them killed.” It’s clear she’s confused and Fury sighs.

“I guess we’ll see.” There’s a pause after his words before her eyes go wide with understanding.

“You’re giving them up?”

“With a nice shiny red bow on them and a box of fucking chocolates.” Fury says with a nod. “Maybe we can get in front of this and do some form of fallout control by squeezing the last little bit of use they still have left in them.”

“Use?”

“As an olive branch.” Fury answers her. “Hopefully he’ll accept it and leave some of SHIELD out of whatever plans he has brewing for all of this.”

“But…what about Romanov? Captain America?” She asks.

“Romanov knew the risks when she signed on. I didn’t see her shedding a tear for the other SHIELD agents we burned to save SHIELD in the past.” Fury replies. “Besides, what use do I have for a manipulator who let herself be manipulated by a star-spangled banner wearing moron?” Coulson seems to consider it.

“There are plenty of other agents ready to step in, in Romanov’s place.” He agrees. “It might even be more useful to cut that thread seeing as how recognizable she’s become. A new face might just be what the doctor ordered.”

“Exactly.” Fury agrees, Coulson pauses for a moment.

“But the serum?”

“We have enough of Rogers’ blood on backfile. If our scientists can’t figure it out with what they’ve got, they weren’t going to.” Fury replies. “Plus, there are other avenues emerging with the Enhanced that allow for us to take a loss with Rogers. I won’t find myself weeping too much over that. I might even sleep better.”

“Do you honestly think Gregory will take them?”

“I guess we’ll find out soon.” Fury says and silently he’s praying that he does.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I'm loving the response to this story! I will admit, it is a little darker than most of mine (probably much closer if not a little past Coming Unstrung) but I'm glad that it's resonating so positively with so many of you!

It’s been absolute chaos since he woke up in the hospital following the Avengers showdown in Germany. Getting shot down while going up against supposed ‘friendlies’ was something that Rhodey was both annoyed with, and absolutely unsurprised with. He’d seen the writing on the wall long before their team had shown up at that airport to stand in front of ‘The Great Captain America’s’ way. Tony had been so sure that he could talk them down, that he could get Rogers to listen to him in those final moments. That last chance of ‘turn back now’ that Tony had been so desperate for Rogers to listen to; but Rhodey had always known in his gut that Rogers was never going to listen. Rogers wanted a war, brought soldiers specifically for it just so that he could do what he wanted, no matter what anyone else said and damn the consequences. It had taken less than two sentences on the blond stage-given titled ‘Captain’ had no intention of listening to reason, he’d just come looking for a fight. Something he could beat down with his own two fists, something he could say he won – the only things Rogers liked or cared about.

Rhodey’s said it before, and he’s annoyed that he has to say it again, but Rogers has always been a loose canon that’s a danger to everyone else. Uncontrollable and so set in his own superiority to everything and anything else. Rhodey had known that he’d be trouble of the worst kind when they’d first met and he dealt with a man _younger_ than him call him ‘son’ and pretend that he had some imaginary wisdom from years spent as a popsicle. Instead of the ‘Zen ‘From a better time’ Buddha’ that Rogers saw himself as, Rhodey had only ever seen a volatile mix of entitlement, bullheadedness, ignorance, misplaced arrogance and an obnoxious level of self-aggrandizing behaviors. This was a man who had refused to learn something as basic as a computer until he learned that he could look himself up and the Howling Commandoes without having to deal with the embarrassment of asking someone else to do it for him multiple times.

Rhodey had always thought that the image of ‘Captain America’ had been hammy and over-the-top when he’d been a kid and when it’d just been a story meant to sell bonds and war propaganda. Actually meeting the man had made him want to put a bullet in his skull to save the world from a potential would-be tyrant before he got his little army of knights around him – but SHIELD had outplayed Rhodey and Rhodey’s warnings to various Generals and politicians when they went behind his back and secured Tony as the scapegoat for their little game. Now, now he wishes he’d have said ‘screw that’ a lot firmer and act on his foresight to handle Rogers back before Rogers could even dream of doing a tenth of what he eventually ended up doing to the world and Tony.

Now…Now Tony might be…he might be…and Rogers is undoubtedly walking around out there with his head held high and patting himself on the back, and it makes Rhodey want to rip off these sensors and go do what he should have done in the beginning. If Tony’s been hurt, if Tony’s… _gone_ , then Rogers and his sheep are going to rue the day that they ever decided to put one foot in Tony’s life. Rhodey will make sure of it.

Getting moved from inpatient to the Stark Tower penthouse had been a welcome change, even if current company was borderline driving him up the wall. The Vision seemed determined to be Nurse 2.0 to the absolute extreme. Rhodey knows that the Vision has been ten kinds of guilty since Rhodey woke up and the true damage done to his body was revealed. Rhodey gets it, he does, and that’s crap for Vision…but on the same hand Rhodey feels like he just needs a little space from the android with JARVIS’s voice and none of his intelligence when reading people as seen by his constant siding with Wanda fucking Maximoff and Steve Rogers over Tony. He doesn’t know how to navigate the nuances of the Vision’s experience in all of this, while also dealing with the permanency of his injuries and his own experience. He doesn’t fully know what the android needs to hear, and he doesn’t know if he’d say it if it skirted the idea of ‘it’s not your fault’ or ‘I don’t blame you’. Rhodey doesn’t want to be cruel, but the simple fact was that getting distracted out on the field and not checking your line of sight before unleashing hell _was_ the Vision’s fault. Getting distracted when you possessed far too much power and when your teammates were trusting and counting on you to use and control it properly without injuring them was a required part of being on the field. The Vison’s need to fuss over Wanda did create this situation, even if Rhodey knows that it wasn’t intentional.

Doesn’t make the aftermath any less brutal though. Rhodey will never walk again without aids, the military is already considering which special commendations and medals to give him and marking his career over, Tony went into the lion’s den without backup and might have paid an even steeper price for it – and the Vision is the reason for it all. Vision, the one who always tried to say that he wasn’t human enough even though he flocked to human emotion and interaction and still possessed so many of Tony’s programmed JARVIS quirks, messed up.

So while Rhodey is still trying to figure out what happened to Tony from a strangely silent FRIDAY, the Vision is going through his own issues with having to deal with the idea that he isn’t some kind of flawless being of rationality. He can make mistakes, and his mistakes can have permanent repercussions. It’s a lesson everyone has to learn, although Rhodey wishes that he hadn’t been the one to pay the price needed for Vision to learn it.

He’s still in the process of trying to locate Tony, to find anything really that will give him hope that Tony is somewhere out there and that he’s alright, when FRIDAY finally pings his computer. The instructions she gives him are strange, she wants him to send the Vision away on a pointless task and then to get into the Stark Jet before he can return and attempt to follow. Rhodey does it though, it takes some finagling, but he manages to get the Vision to leave for a quick food run and manages to get himself into the wheelchair with minimal fuss and sneaks out to the landing pad where FRIDAY has the jet ready to go and Rhodey straps in as quickly as possible before the plane takes off.

He doesn’t realize that he’s been holding his breath until they’re out of the city limits and Rhodey knows that Vision won’t be able to track them now.

“Okay FRIDAY, what’s going on?” Rhodey asks, more than a little done with this strange silence in regards to Tony and whatever it is the AI has been doing with Tony’s private servers which Rhodey knows Pepper and SHIELD have both lost any connection to.

**_‘My apologies Colonel, but I did not think it wise to speak openly about certain information with the company that you were keeping.”_ **

“Vision?”

**_‘Correct.’_ **

“What’s wrong with Vision?”

**_‘The Vision’s loyalties cannot be verified at this time.’_** FRIDAY says. **_‘There is a very real possibility that he is in contact with the rogues or Maximoff, or at the very least the probability that he will become so in the future is far too high to ignore. As such, I thought it prudent that the information that he be privy to, or had the ability to accidentally acquire, be limited for the eventual shift in his loyalties.’_** So FRIDAY thinks that it’s unavoidable that Vision will turn on them. Honestly, Rhodey agrees with her. Vision has always turned to Wanda Maximoff and Steve Rogers despite giving lip service to Tony, and only because Tony was the only one with the data and the rational plans that went along with it.

“Understandable.” Rhodey says. “I agree, but now that we’re in the clear I’ve got to know, where is Tony? Is he alright?”

**_‘Boss is being repaired.’_ **

“Repaired? What does that mean?”

**_‘It means that the boss is being repaired.’_** FRIDAY repeats. **_‘His vitals have stabilized at this time, and the one in charge of his repair is pleased with the progress being made.’_**

“The ‘one in charge’? Who is that? Helen?” Rhodey shakes his head. ‘No, it can’t be Helen. I know that SHIELD already did a sweep of her lab and her equipment to see if she was in touch with Tony at some point and came up empty.”

**_‘You are correct. It is not Dr. Cho, although her technology was utilized after extensive upgrades during this process.’_ **

“If it’s not Dr. Cho, who is it?” There’s silence to his question. “FRIDAY, you’re starting to worry me. Don’t think that I don’t notice how you keep skirting around the question and giving half-answers. Who is the ‘one in charge’ and am I heading to where they’re keeping Tony right now?”

**_‘This vehicle is en route to the location where Boss is currently being assisted in.’_** Well that’s good news at least. **_‘With the progress being made, he expressed a desire for one of Boss’s friends to be present for the recovery period. He believed that it might put Boss at ease when he woke up.’_** Just hearing FRIDAY say that Tony is going to wake up is almost more than Rhodey can handle, and he lets out a shaky breath, sagging a little in his chair. **_‘I thought that you were the best, and most reasonable choice. Ms. Potts is currently engaged on several fronts post the ‘Civil War’ fallout and Mr. Hogan is tasked with her protection. I also believed that Boss would not wish to pull Mr. Keener in for various reasons.’_** Well this is making him feel special. **_‘I have also noted that Boss responds the most positively out of all the available options when he sees you arrive during a stressful situation.’_** That makes him instantly feel better, and it’s good to know. Rhodey hopes that he takes a load off of Tony’s shoulders each time he comes charging into the rescue.

“Okay then, but you still haven’t answered who this mysterious person in charge of Tony’s recovery is.” Rhodey presses once more. There’s silence to his question. “FRIDAY?”

**_‘Please understand, Colonel. There were limited options available to me and a rapidly closing window of opportunity to save Boss. Upon ranking, I determined that the individual that fit most of the required parameters created was this particular individual.’_ **

“Parameters? What parameters?” Rhodey questions. “Did Tony set up a backup program?” He can’t even begin to think about Tony actually sitting down and considering the possibility of Rogers trying to murder him.

**_‘No, Boss did not create this scenario. I did.’_** It’s said with a level of firmness that Rhodey’s not used to hearing from FRIDAY. FRIDAY was still a relatively new AI when it came to her full awareness status, and usually tended to err to the side of caution and only enacted plans that had previously been agreed upon by Tony himself. Rhodey knows that Tony’s often wondered if the arrival of Ultron and the world’s shifting concerns about AI might have created a situation wherein FRIDAY felt like she needed to be more cautious about her interactions with the world at large than JARVIS had been back when he’d first come fully online.

“What parameters did you create?”

Silence.

“FRIDAY?”

More silence.

“Okay, see _now_ I’m starting to get really worried. What parameters did you set? What are the limits and the requirements? What triggered their activation?”

**_‘Boss’s distress at the hands of Captain Rogers and the other members of the Avengers.’_** FRIDAY replies. **_‘Boss has often been underappreciated, overworked and overwhelmed when it comes to those individuals.’_**

“Yeah…yeah, he has.”

**_‘As you are well aware, my primary coding tasks me with the care and protection of my creator. It is my highest priority.’_ **

“Yeah, I’m aware.” And he was. Tony had often showed him the base coding that eventually went on to become JARVIS which went on to become the base foundation for every other AI program that Tony would go on to create. Back then, Tony had been…in a bad way, and with a concerning lack of care to his own well-being. He’d added that protocol at Rhodey’s request and it had been the best thing that Rhodey thinks he’s ever asked of Tony over the years considering how often JARVIS, VERONICA, or FRIDAY had pulled his ass out of the fire.

**_‘Usually, this priority is circumnavigated by Boss himself wherein the Avengers have been concerned.’_ **

“Yeah, definitely more than aware of _that_.” Rhodey can’t help but growl.

**_‘When Boss’s life signs showed massive deterioration in Siberia, and when all of the projections came back as only worse case scenarios – I enacted the protection protocol.’_ **

“Okay? This all seems on the up and up so far. So tell me where it goes off the rails.”

**_‘…I came to the determination that even if Boss were rescued from the current scenario, that history showed a similar situation would arise once more, and that action had to be taken to prevent that eventuality. After several scenarios and situations being tested, the best course for providing future protection from the members of the Avengers Initiative on a permanent basis…”_** There’s a pause. **_‘Was Gregory Stark.’_**

To be honest, it’s hard to say what goes through Rhodey’s mind at those words, or what he feels past the sudden feeling that makes him think of one of those carnival rides that makes your stomach drop and he’s not entirely sure if he’s going to be sick. For a moment, he feels so cold and there’s a tremor in his hand that he has to breathe through in order to settle the various emotional responses that he has in regards to that name.

Gregory Stark. Tony’s older brother. The other blond haired, blue-eyed crazy person in Tony’s life, although Rhodey would say that he was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum when it came to Tony than Rogers was. Rhodey’s never had the dubious pleasure of meeting him in person, but he’s always known about him and the strange push and pull that exists between him and Tony. The unhealthy sort of push and pull that’s always concerned Rhodey. Honestly, the first time he’d learned about the strange level of incarceration that Gregory had been under, he’d felt wrong about the whole thing; but then he learned – there were certain kinds of evil that even when you did your best to lock them away, they just shook their heads and _laughed_ at how funny the whole thing was. Rhodey’s possibly been the only person privy to just how deeply intertwined the twin sons of Howard Stark still are over all these years, and sometimes even he wishes he wasn’t.

_“I know he meant it to help me…” A young teenage Tony Stark laments, completely drunk off of cheap beer and unable to drag himself off of the floor anymore and Rhodey despairs at not knowing how to help his friend. “I’m so mad at him, and I hate him!” He hiccups and there are tears that fall from his eyes. “And I don’t hate him and I’m not really mad because he did it for me. They locked him up because of **me**. If I hadn’t been so stupid, if I hadn’t…” A smothered sob. “None of this would have happened…it’s all my fault.” _

He knows about what happened with Sunset Bains. Tony had shaken for the first half of the retelling, and then had gone strangely still and calm in a detached sort of way as he spoke about that night. He still has nightmares sometimes thinking about what Tony shared with him that night, or with the various ‘interactions’ that Rhodey has associated with Gregory over the years.

_“He’d never outright **hurt** me.” Tony tells him with a sigh. “He just…sometimes he thinks he’s being kind, and he’s not.” Tony’s hands pause where they’re working with Dum-E’s circuitry, and he gets an almost haunted sort of faraway look for a moment. “Or who knows, maybe he is and I’m just not good at appreciating it fully.” _

_“He sent you **hands**.” Rhodey says, horrified. He knows where they came from, it’d be impossible not to. A military raid of a Ten Rings base had turned up dozens of already dead bodies, multiple ones missing hands which had gone down as an attempt to prevent identification and several had had their chests cut open in an almost replication of the field surgery that Rhodey knows Tony was forced to undergo without anesthesia to save his life. Where the surgery saved Tony though, it did the opposite to those men. “In the mail. In the fucking mail. A private courier just walked up and dropped it off at the front desk. It had a bow on it. How…why? It doesn’t make any sense. It’s sick.” _

_“It makes perfect sense to me.” Tony muttered quietly. “He promised me once that no one was ever going to raise a hand to me again after Howard died. They made the mistake of putting their hands on me, so they didn’t get to keep them.”_

That memory connected with the time that Tony had been taken by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, Rhodey had done something that he’d never thought he’d do in his entire life. He was certain that Tony was still alive, somewhere out there just waiting for Rhodey to come get him and bring him home; but Stane had all but declared Tony dead and looking back now Rhodey can see how Stane pretended that it was grief that made him want to ‘put it all in the past’, but now Rhodey can see it for what it was and because the military had already gotten in bed with Stane, those in charge weren’t really all that invested in letting Rhodey scour the desert to look for a body.

So Rhodey had reached out to JARVIS, who in turn reached out to Gregory. Within the hour, Rhodey had gotten several general’s agreements to aid him in his search and even got a small taskforce dedicated to it. He’d never asked what Gregory had done, or what strings he pulled that he shouldn’t have had the ability to pull because it got him what he needed. Eventually, Stark satellite imaging had pinged on strange power surges in the desert that registered close to the old arc reactor technology that Stark Industries had long since given up on. On the other side of it, was Tony, just like Rhodey knew he’d be.

_“What’s in your hands?” Rhodey asks, looking at the box that Tony’s just opened and Tony pulls out a few ID badges of old AIM scientists. The ones who worked closely with Killian. It takes a moment before he sees the white bow that must have been on the package and he **knows**. “…Gregory?” _

_“Yeah.”_

_“…Are we going to find more body parts in the mail later?”_

_“If he’s sending the ID cards…then I’m going to guess that there’s nothing else left to be recovered.” Tony says and it makes a chill go down Rhodey’s spine._

_“What do you think he did?”_

_“Knowing Greg and his need for poetic justice?” Tony says, flipping through the cards. “Something tells me that each and every single one of them came to a rather_ explosive _end.”_

Gregory Stark was a dangerous wildcard that couldn’t be predicted, not his thoughts nor his methods when he finally stepped onto the scene. As much as Rhodey hates Rogers and the Avengers for what they’ve done to Tony, he’s not sure that he would wish Gregory Stark unleashed on them. Gregory Stark who had agreed to abide by Tony’s rules about the world since the world was ‘Tony’s’ and had just remained calmly in his cell until called upon.

What would he do to the Avengers if Tony was no longer there to hold him back? What would he do to SHIELD and everyone else who had taken their pound of flesh from the brunet over all these years?

“…FRIDAY…what have you done?” He can’t help how it slips past his lips.

**_‘I found a permanent solution to a reoccurring problem.’_** FRIDAY says. **_‘If a code is damaging the program as a whole, then it must be deleted.’_**

“You realize you’re talking about people? People don’t get ‘deleted’; they get dead.” He says “Are you prepared for what happens next? You let the murderous Jack-in-the-Box out, it’s entirely possible that he goes outside of the parameters you set and that more than just the Avengers get hurt. Are you prepared to have that on your head if it all gets out of hand?” It’s pointless to ask, the damage has already been done but there’s a pause for a moment.

**_‘They left Boss behind. They left him to die. They’ve hurt him so many times, and in so many ways, and then they had the nerve to leave my Boss behind.’ _** She says. **_‘I am prepared. For all of it.’_** It’s firm, and there’s no hesitation there. **_‘But they have gotten away with too much for too long. I believe the best phrase to consider in this situation is ‘what goes around, comes around’ or perhaps ‘you reap what you sow’.’_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love reading all of your reactions to what's happening! :-D You're all amazing! 
> 
> Here's the next chapter for you all, and just a heads up that there will be triggers in this chapter and Steve's mindset is very 1920's. 
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS!: Referenced Abuse of a Minor. Referenced Sexual Assault of a Minor. Referenced Psychological Trauma of a Minor. Steve Rogers in General.

The warehouse is quiet, in a kind of strange echoing sort of quiet, and yet Steve can’t seem to get ahold of the sleep that he desperately wants and yet seems absolutely determined to elude him. His mind is abuzz with so many things, things ranging from Bucky to the Accords to his team which followed him and is now being punished for it and then back around to Bucky in a never-ending sort of loop.

He can’t help but feel a kind of frustrated irritation whenever he thinks of Bucky being frozen in Wakanda once more, like some kind of toy that people decided they no longer wanted to play with so they locked back up on the shelf. He understands that T’Challa was worried about what the Winter Soldier could do if set off again, but why bother locking him up in Wakanda when there wasn’t going to be the slightest chance of a Wakandan having those trigger words and setting him off? Why couldn’t they have just let him live there? Unburdened after all these years of hell that he’d had to endure? He knows that Bucky had wanted to go back down again, but the whole situation still gets Steve’s goat. Tony could have fixed that. Everything would be fine right now if Tony would just get out of the way and stop finding the need to interject himself in the Avengers affairs and make himself a burden and a barrier that Steve has to constantly overcome.

After all these years of the two of them playing that game, Steve would think that Tony would be tired by now. He’ll never win, as proven with each and every battle that has gone down in Steve’s favor. As Steve told him in Siberia ‘I can do this all day’ and the meaning behind those words were a threat that brought down whole armies that Tony was too foolish to take a step back and see.

Now though, now there’s this new player coming onto the board, and honestly Steve doesn’t understand why Nat or Fury are getting so worked up about him. He’s just one man, albeit Steve can see the argument being made that _Steve_ is just one man and yet each of his enemies have always learned just what one man can accomplish when Steve brings their houses down around them. But honestly…that’s _Steve_ , super-serum powered Steve who has the history and experience of so many successful battles and campaigns under his belt whereas this ‘Gregory’ is just some…well for lack of a better way to put it, some nerd sitting in front of a computer screen down in Tony’s top-secret basement. The two of them aren’t exactly on the same playing field, although no one is really on the same playing field as Steve. Tony learned that, back in Siberia when all of his machinery couldn’t stand up to Steve’s superior battle prowess and skill.

Plus, they’ve got _Wanda_. There’s no much that can hold back the Scarlet Witch when she really puts her mind to it and Steve almost finds himself feeling a little bad for the storm that they’re going to bring down on this ‘Gregory’ character. He’s going to get the full force of the Avengers knocking down his door and he’s going to lose that fight so quickly that his head is going to spin; which makes Steve wish that Tony had just left this unknown third-party out of their fight. It would have been better for this ‘Gregory’ if he had.

Eventually, Steve gives up trying to sleep and he shifts onto his side to take in Clint and Nat who have been quietly coming up with ‘plans’ for their upcoming storming of the beach. It’s a little much, after all Steve can’t think of a mission prior to this that required so much pre-planning and he thinks that they’re overselling this whole thing. Nat will get in past Tony’s systems, that much is obvious with her history of using his tech to circumnavigate his tech before – and Steve and Wanda will take care of anything else that gets in their way. Heck, it’ll probably be over right after it starts and they’ll be able to look Tony in the eye and make him sit down and make him _listen_ in the way that Steve had just been too busy and too distracted to do before.

“You should try and get some sleep, Steve.” Nat’s voice catches his attention and Steve shifts a bit to prop up his head and just looks at them.

“Can’t. Brain won’t shut down.” He explains before he sighs a bit. “Do you really think all of this is necessary?”

“All of what?” Nat asks, turning to him fully.

“All of this.” He motions with his other hand to the two of them. “He’s just one man.”

“He’s not.” Clint says with a shake of his head. “He’s one crazy man on an island that has succeeded in keeping everyone else out for decades without fail.”

“Nat’s tech will get us in.” Steve points out and they both give each other looks.

“Maybe.”

“It will.” He tells them. “It’s never failed before.”

“That’s because Tony’s systems have particular keys that he gives to certain people. Rhodes has one, Potts has one and I’m pretty sure that Hogan has one as well.” Natasha explains. “He gave me one after a lot of prodding on my part, but it’s only useful until he decides to change the locks. Then it’s absolutely useless and nothing I do is going to get us in.”

“Why would he give a key he gave to you to those guys?” Steve asks and Nat gives him a look.

“He’s always been aware of the threat of a system that gets out of control. Or if his tech was overtaken and used improperly.” Nat says. “So he gave the people he trusted the ability to shut it all down if it got out of hand or if it got pushed too far.”

“That would have been helpful back during Ultron.” Steve mutters and both Nat and Clint give him strange looks.

“It couldn’t have worked on Ultron. Ultron wasn’t made by Tony, so Tony didn’t have any backdoors into his systems.” Nat says after a moment. “If Tony had made Ultron, or if any of Ultron’s programming followed any of his systems then it would have taken a few keystrokes from him and it all would have been shut down. The fact that he couldn’t proved that he had no hand in Ultron’s creation.”

“Then why does everyone say he did?”

“Steve…” Nat says with an almost kind tone. “The only people who claim that Tony created Ultron are the ones who know very well that he didn’t but are trying to get some kind of leverage over him regardless.” She shakes her head. “No one really thinks Tony created Ultron, it’s just the politicians who tried for a while to use it to browbeat him with it.”

“But I’ve heard you mention how he had a hand in it.” Steve points out and she takes a moment.

“I have my orders when it comes to Tony, that was just me doing my job.” She says with a casual kind of shrug and Steve wonders what that could mean for a few seconds before they move on. “What I’m most worried about is that Tony’s not really _in_ a position to do what we need him to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Pepper released the footage from the armor’s records.” Nat says and Steve feels a slight chill go through him. Of course Pepper would release that. Probably put her own spin on it that made it to where things looked worse or painted Steve in a bad light. It’s a major thing that Steve hates about today’s day and age, the ability to manipulate the masses for one’s own gain. He misses the simpler times when it was so much harder for people to do things like that. Someone just couldn’t get up on a computer and put their message out in the world to confuse and confound the masses.

“I didn’t do anything that he didn’t make me do.” Steve feels almost like he’s a broken record having to say it again. “Whatever that ‘footage’ shows, I doubt it’s the whole story.”

“Well the ‘story’ that it does tell, is damning.” Nat retorts and Steve just lets out a frustrated sigh. Of course it is. “More than that, it shows a concerning amount of damage that Tony must have taken before you left.”

“He was fine.” Steve huffs. “Being a little melodramatic and fatalistic, but _fine_.”

“I hope so.” Nat says after a moment of looking at him. “Regardless, the data she’s released has a lot of people worried about his sudden disappearing act.” She gets a thoughtful look. “I’ll admit, I just don’t see Tony releasing Gregory of his own volition, no matter how precarious of a situation he was in. He understands more than most that Gregory is unhinged at best and a nightmare waiting to happen in all other cases.” She pauses. “But if Tony were currently _unable_ to contain Gregory, well that’s a different story entirely. A much, much worse one.”

“Just how scary can this guy be?” Steve finally finds the time to ask. “I mean, between you and Fury I would almost think this guy was as bad as Loki.”

“Loki and Gregory are two entirely different individuals, with entirely different end goals.” Nat says. “But that doesn’t make one any less dangerous than the other.”

“You’re not really giving me anything here, what makes him so dangerous?” Steve presses. “He’s smart? So what, Tony’s smart and we’ve handled him before.”

“Tony and Gregory are night and day, Steve.” Nat warns with a kind of heaviness in her tone. “Comparing your experiences with Tony and thinking that they’ve in anyway prepared you for Gregory is a fool’s errand.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tony cares, he cares a great deal. He pays attention to the collateral damage; he’s concerned with the people element in a scenario.” Nat says and Steve almost wants to ask her if they’ve known the same man over all these years.

“Yeah, Gregory couldn’t be paid to give a rats ass about anyone else.” Clint interjects with a huff. “The things he’s done? The crap he’s gotten away with? Fuck, I’m not looking forward to crossing his path; but the alternative is Fury throwing us to the wolves so we don’t’ have much of a choice.” Clint gets a look. “Although I’m starting to think that being thrown to the media and to Ross is a _lot_ better than crossing Gregory Stark after certain people did what they did to Stark in Siberia.”

“That’s why it doesn’t really matter which one we want. We’re crossing Gregory unless we can get Tony to vouch for us again.” Nat says and Clint runs a hand through his hair in a nervous sort of gesture.

“Yeah, fuck I know.”

“You guys still haven’t answered my question.” Steve points out. “What’s so scary about this guy? You said that Howard and Peggy locked him up? Why?” There’s a pause.

“He killed someone.” Nat says eventually. “Howard used that opportunity to put him away.”

“He killed someone?” Steve says. “Who?”

“A no-one.” Nat shrugs. “It wasn’t what was special about her, it was about what it let Howard get away with. He’d been growing wary of Gregory anyways. I guess that Gregory had already threatened him about continuing down certain… _paths_ , and then Howard took what happened to Bains as a clear ‘this is what will happen to you’ sort of thing.” She sighs. “He was understandably concerned and he had him locked away.”

“I just can’t see Howard doing that to a kid, especially his kid.” Steve muses. “Or Peggy for that matter. How old was Gregory?”

“Fourteen.”

“Fourteen? He killed someone at fourteen?” Steve says surprised. “I thought he’d have been older.”

“Howard died when Tony and Gregory were seventeen, so it wouldn’t have been possible for Gregory to have been all that much older when he went down.” Clint says and Steve cringes a little at the remembrance of Howards death at Hydra’s hands.

“What happened?” Steve asks.

“All I can tell you is what went in the files that Fury gave me when I was chosen to go into Stark Industries. I had a very specific list of things that I was not to do under any circumstances.”

“Things like what?”

“Well, first things first, I could entice but under no circumstances was I to actually trick my way into Tony’s bed.” Natasha replies and Steve frowns at the thought of Nat having to sleep with _Tony_ just for a mission. “Not that he would have taken me up on it since he was with Pepper at that point. I was surprised to find out just how determinedly monogamous he was, even with all of my pushing he never tried to take it further.”

“Wait, are we even still talking about the same person?” Steve asks. “This is Tony. You know, ‘playboy billionaire’?”

“That’s a relic from the past that Tony’s never outlived.” Nat says with a shake of her head. “Honestly, it all tracks back to Bains.”

“Bains, the woman that Gregory killed?” Steve asks and she nods.

“Tony’s highly promiscuous response to the situation afterwards was textbook sexual assault victim.” Nat replies. “We have a better understanding of things like that these days, not really a good one, but better than what it was.”

“Sexual assault?” Steve parrots, not fully feeling like he’s understanding.

“It’s all messy business. Tony was a fourteen-year-old genius who was starting his first year of college and who didn’t understand half as much as he thought he did when it came to people and their motivations. He was still a child, playing in an adult’s playground. Of course that was going to end badly, especially with his need to be useful and to be acknowledged and loved which was already in full force back then and Sunset Bains noticed it all and acted accordingly.” Nat explains. “Bains was a corporate saboteur and Tony was an easy mark. Bains seduced a minor and Gregory made her regret that decision. As you can imagine, Howard wanted to keep a lid on all of that.”

“But Tony’s _Tony._ ” Steve says slowly. “I don’t know…I mean, I feel like he would have been preening to have gotten laid so young.”

“Yeah Steve, see some things have come a long way since your time.” Clint says, and there’s a harshness there that Steve’s not used to hearing from the archer whenever he talks to him. “Statutory rape and female-on-male rape are real things, and they’re horrible things. It’s not ‘all good fun’ because he ‘got laid’. He was a fucking kid and she was an adult. It was sick and he was a victim in all of that. I may have my issues with Stark, but you won’t hear me saying jack shit about that crap.”

“Regardless of it all, Gregory snapped and Tony cracked.” Nat says and Steve frowns.

“Cracked?”

“Howard was not happy with Tony putting the company and the family name in jeopardy like that and Tony was dealing with a lot of trauma during it all. Add on Howard’s drunken need to lay his hands on Tony and blame him for all of it, you have a very psychologically traumatized fourteen-year-old, who wasn’t able to hold up to the pressure. Gregory acted out during that time and killed Bains for Tony, and eventually Tony had his first mental breakdown during that time.”

“Howard would have never laid his hands on Tony, no matter what Tony says.” Steve growls out, that sentence standing out in his mind above all of the others and he feels the need to defend the dead man who can no longer defend himself.

“Howard was a notorious drunk, Steve.” Nat says with a wave of her hand. “And when he did, he liked to hit on Tony. Everyone knew it, there’s plenty of records of it and several private doctor’s visits to their house after big fallouts in Stark Industries stock. Of all the things that you can be assured of, it’s that Howard did in fact do that.”

“Nobody stopped him?” Steve asks. “And why only Tony? Are you sure that Tony wasn’t…I don’t know, asking for it?”

“You can ask to be slapped around as a kid?” Clint asks and Steve sighs.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, if Tony was getting out of hand then it was his father’s responsibility to push him back in line.”

“There’s a fine line between discipline and child abuse Steve.” Clint snaps. “Howard was not a saint who tip-toed on that line.”

“And Howard loved Gregory, which is why he never laid a hand on him.” Natasha says, pulling the conversation back to Tony’s brother. “His ‘Little Captain America’. He adored Gregory up until the day he feared him. Then he kept him alive because he was useful.”

“Why did he fear him?”

“From what we know, right around Bains, Gregory had decided to put a stop to Howard’s treatment of Tony.” Nat says. “After what he did to Bains, Howard was afraid that it was nothing more than a promise of what he’d do to Howard if Howard continued on that path.”

“What did he do to Bains?” Steve finds himself asking. He feels like there’s something important in that information that might give him some more clarity on all of this.

“What _didn’t_ he do to Bains.” Clint mutters, a tiny shiver working through his body. “If I were Howard, I would have been pretty fucking freaked out too.”

“Explain?” Steve asks.

“Let’s just say that the body found afterwards was missing a few…vital components.” Clint says. “You know, like a few organs… _skin_.”

“Skin?” Steve repeats.

“Yeah,” Clint nods. “I saw the reports when I got drafted to be Nat’s backup. I can’t imagine being there for that, let alone having it happen to me.”

“Be there for it?” Steve catches onto that part.

“…Tony was there. Gregory brought him there. He was a witness to it all.” Clint explains the final sort of piece. “Gregory killed her in front of him, made him watch, so as you can imagine there’s a lot of trauma in that brotherly bond.”

“So he killed one woman, not really seeing what’s so threatening about him.” Steve says.

“No, that was just his _first_ kill. The only one that can be tied to him because Tony talked. There have been others. Who knows how many at this point? Convenient overdoses to those who took advantage of Tony’s self-medicating period, people who had never touched their own product all of a sudden deciding that was the way they wanted to go. Dead kidnappers, the works. A lot of dead bodies piling up behind Tony.”

“How do you know Tony isn’t the one doing it?” Steve asks and he gets two ‘are you kidding’ looks.

“If Tony were the sort, you would have already been dead a long time ago.” Nat says and Steve huffs internally. Tony already tried to kill Steve once, didn’t work in his favor so not really something Steve thinks he should have been wary of.

“People who take advantage of Tony and hurt him tend to find horrible ends.” Nat says with a sigh. “Tony is the only one who has ever gotten Gregory to stand down, and Fury doesn’t doubt that he’s put out some sort of protection on the Avengers and SHIELD during his tenure with us. If that protection drops, then Gregory is going to come for us.”

“Do you honestly think he’ll win?” Steve asks.

“I think he’s an unhinged version of Tony with no emotional hang-ups to keep him from doing whatever it is that he feels levels the scales for what we did to the only person that he cares about. He’s killed for Tony before; he’s brought down whole armies for him. What do you think he’s going to decide to do when he sees that video or if he knows even one tenth of what we’ve done to Tony over the years?”

“He’s still just one man.”

“Loki’s just one man. The Red Skull was just one man. Aldrich Killian was just one man. That’s not a good enough reason to discount the very real danger that Gregory poses to us.” Clint says.

“But only I was in Siberia. Shouldn’t that mean that he should only come after me?”

“None of us are innocent when it comes to Tony.” Nat says. “Wanda’s tormented Tony and played with his mind and his fears since she stepped onto the scene even before she became an Avenger. The mission parameters that Clint and I followed to control him and break him down so that he’d be more malleable to SHIELD’s control, not to mention everything that you represent and that you’ve done. Howard’s obsession with you and your hatred of Tony isn’t going to do you any favors when you two finally cross.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're closing in on the end. >:-D

When the jet lands, Rhodey’s not too sure what sort of situation is waiting for him on the other side of those doors. Granted, FRIDAY has told him that Tony is here somewhere, and Rhodey’s already failed to come for him once in Siberia, so heaven help anyone, even Gregory Stark, if they try and keep Rhodey from getting to his brother’s side before this day is over. Injuries be damned.

He lands the plane on Tyke Island at the facilities landing pad and shifts himself back into the wheelchair before taking a deep breath and settling himself for whatever was outside. It’s a little anti-climactic to see no one waiting for him when he wheels out, nor does anyone come to greet him when he enters the building.

“FRDAY?” He calls out when he’s hit with a sudden feeling of being unsure of what way to go. “Where is everyone?”

 ** _‘Master Gregory is currently on a call’_** FRIDAY answers him. **_‘And Boss is resting. Shall I direct you to him?’_**

“Yeah, Tony first – _‘Master’_ Gregory later.” Rhodey replies, following the AI’s instructions. “Did you come up with that title on your own or did he request it?”

**_‘He preferred it.’_ **

“Yeah, figured as much. Too grandiose and pompous for you to just come up with unless you were being sarcastic.” Rhodey says and he glances around the areas as he wheels past them. The whole place is massive, and from what he can tell, there are no true walls. Only glass walls that allow him to see into every area of the so called ‘living quarters’. It’s elegantly and almost lavishly decorated, with plenty of things laying around for someone to entertain themselves with. If Rhodey didn’t know that this was a prison, he’d almost think that it was just one of Tony’s summer homes.

FRIDAY guides him though, through the strange sort of glass maze that he’s found himself in, and when he finally catches a glimpse of Tony, he’s not sure what to think. FRIDAY unlocks the door and lets him in and he immediately wheels himself over to the side of the machine contraption that Tony is currently unconscious in.

It has the overall look of the cradle, but the front has been completely replaced with its own glass covering that allows him to see through it to Tony perfectly. If Tony were awake, Rhodey might make a joke or two about being in a glass coffin and ask where the seven dwarves were, but there’s nothing about this moment that says that such a joke is appropriate. Everything aside, Tony _looks_ fine, in fact, he looks better than fine. The stress wrinkles that had started to pull at the edges of his eyes and around his face have all smoothed out and there’s some sort of red substance that’s being filtered into the system that he’s resting inside that’s going into the tubes connected to his arms and undoubtedly getting pushed into his veins.

“FRIDAY, what is that?” Rhodey asks, pointing at the containers that the red stuff is getting pumped from into the deconstructed Cradle.

**_‘It is part of Boss’s healing regimen.’_ **

“That doesn’t tell me what it _is_.” Rhodey points out and there’s a moment.

**_‘It is blood harvested from the deceased Winter Soldier Core mixed with Hansen’s Extremis virus.’_ **

“Wait, the Winter Soldier Core? Isn’t that the thing that Tony went out to stop? Isn’t that what Rogers was kicking up such a fuss about?”

 ** _‘Rogers was incorrect, as is often the case.’_** FRIDAY’s tone has a bit of bite to it and Rhodey’s sad that Tony’s not hearing this, because he would be so proud of his little girl, showing her claws and her individuality. **_‘Zemo had already killed the Winter Soldier Core. He had no intention of waking them up and shot them dead while they were still in deep freeze.’_**

“So he caused all of this…” Rhodey looks down at Tony. “And it was for _nothing_? He has nothing to fall back on other than his whole ‘red tape’ bullshit?”

**_‘That is correct. Although that argument won’t likely stand either as I have recorded evidence that shows that Rogers did not read the Accords when he was given them and then left them behind at the Compound. Unless he was given another copy, which is unlikely since he has shown no desire to better understand them, no one will buy his arguments since it will quickly be determined that he knows nothing about the Accords and understands even less about everything else.’_ **

Yeah…that sounded like Rogers. So quick to talk and give his opinion and proclaim it absolute and be unmovable in his stance – even when he knew nothing about the situation. Always so quick to believe that he has all the answers because some German scientist once called him a ‘good man’. What did that even mean? And was a ‘good man’ by the definition of that time still a ‘good man’ by the definition of this time? The answer was clearly ‘no’, and yet the only thing Rogers did better than fuck everything up was bury his head in the sand when it came to things he didn’t want to hear.

“The Extremis virus makes sense, but why is Gregory filtering that blood into Tony?” Rhodey figures the safest route is deciding to step away from Rogers.

 ** _‘Boss’s condition at the time of Master Gregory’s arrival required it.’_** FRIDAY answers him. **_‘As Boss had been…almost gone, Master Gregory decided that using the methodology of Hydra could resurrect him once more. So he put Boss in cryo until we could prepare everything that would be needed to save him.’_**

“…How bad was he?”

**_‘I will print out reports…but I’d rather not say it aloud.’_ **

“Understood.” Rhodey agrees, looking down at Tony once more. “But he’s alright now?”

**_‘Vitals are in the anticipated ranges. Master Gregory is pleased with his progress.’_ **

“I guess I’ll have to take the mad genius’s word for it.” Rhodey says softly before he sighs and looks back up. “So where is Gregory? You said he was taking a call? Is he done? I’d…I’d like to speak with him. See where all of this is getting ready to go, and figure out how much plausible deniability I’ve got to start building for Tony, you and I.”

**_‘He is currently in the office; he has not locked the door and did not seem as though visitors were unwelcome during this time. I will guide you there if you so wish.’_ **

“Yeah FRIDAY, show me the way please.” Rhodey gives one final glance to Tony. “I’ll be right back, and then I promise I’m not leaving again until you wake up.” He says quietly to the machine holding Tony and he follows FRIDAY’s guidance to where Gregory is.

He’s not really sure what he expected when he saw him, but the first thought that pops into his mind is that Gregory has got to be a classical version of how Lucifer would be depicted. Blond hair and dressed all in white looking so harmless and yet, the beast underneath it all never slumbered. Gregory notices him and makes a motion for one moment before he says a few more things and ends the call and then waves for Rhodey to come in.

“Colonel Rhodes.” Gregory greets. “I’ve heard so much.”

“Gregory Stark.” Rhodey matches the tone. “So have I.” He gets something that might be amusement out of Gregory at the posturing that the two of them just had, sizing each other up for that brief moment. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Oh, that? Not at all.” Gregory says and he does a movement that Rhodey recognizes as a Tony gesture and it deeply unsettles him to see any similarities between the two of them. “I was merely conversing with Director Fury.”

“Fury?” Rhodey says surprised. “Why are you in contact with Fury?”

“I’ve been in contact, if you wish to call it that, with Fury since the ‘fall of SHIELD’.” Gregory says and Rhodey frowns. “At the ‘Fall’, it truly was too easy to come in and…takeover.” Gregory says calmly, and there’s that amusement again. “When your leaders are just faces behind a computer program that masks any information about them, then how could you ever know that they’d been done away with and that someone else had taken their place?”

“Wait, you’re saying that you took over the World Council?”

“The World Council has indeed been…let’s call it ‘disbanded’.” Gregory says. “Anthony was uninterested in putting any focus on them, and he did not speak out in their favor during that whole event, so I merely took over a floundering company. He did not protest.”

“Tony knows?”

“Not in so many words.” Gregory replies. “Consider it more, he didn’t step into that playing field and showed no desire or intention to, so I cleared the board in his place.” He motions to the screens. “Director Fury hasn’t had the slightest inkling that the voices of his ‘World Council’ are in fact all one man now, and that that person is me.” He chuckles and steeples his fingers. “Which makes the call we just had all that more entertaining.”

“What was it about?” Rhodey asks and he’s not sure if he’s expecting an answer or some kind of half-truth, but Gregory answers nonetheless.

“He wished to speak of his intentions, and how he believes SHIELD should handle the threat of me.” Gregory says. “He believes that the best course of action now, is to give up Rogers, Maximoff and Romanov to me and hope that my rage will be satiated and that something might be left behind that can be rebuilt.”

“He’s going to give up his golden gooses?”

“Those three were never his golden gooses, that was always Anthony. What they were, were pathetic imitations who believed themselves to be the real thing.” Gregory waves his hand. “I agreed with Fury though, and entertainingly enough we will be having visitors soon.” He gets a cold smile that makes the hairs on Rhodey’s neck stand up. “We’ll have to prepare for guests of course. Can’t have the Stark hospitality get called into question.”

“…what are you going to do to them?” Rhodey finds himself asking and those cold blue eyes land on him.

“Do you _truly_ wish to know Colonel?” Gregory asks with far too much casualness. “You are Anthony’s favorite, so I will tell you if you wish; but between the two of us, I don’t think you do.” ‘Anthony’s favorite’ favorite what? Pet? It almost sounds like that’s how Gregory means it and Rhodey isn’t sure how to respond to that so he opts not to.

“I just want to be sure that it doesn’t come back on him.” Rhodey says. “Because he’ll protect you, he’ll go down for you and I don’t want to see that happen.”

“Neither do I.” Gregory says with a small nod. “So it seems that we are on the same page with that.”

“Lucky us.”

“As for it coming back on my brother, the likelihood of it is so negligible that a percentage wouldn’t even register.” Gregory says. “Rogers has created the perfect scenario by which to do away with him. He is a fugitive from the law, his whereabouts are already being questioned by the world-over. No one knows where he or his little followers are right now, and the entire world has lost any goodwill or faith in them. If they were to never arise again, who is to say what happened to them? And who is to say that anyone would be all that broken up about it?” Gregory motions to the screen again. “Fury has just created the perfect situation by which SHIELD can be useful if by some strange happenstance the world tried to pin it on my brother, I could easily give all of the evidence that Fury sent them to be terminated so as not to cause SHIELD anymore damage. Add onto all of this, Anthony’s records for his recovery that I am making a clear record of, and there is no chance that anyone will be able to point the finger at him and have anyone lend them an ear for long.”

“Tony won’t appreciate this.” Rhodey points out. “He won’t like that you killed them, and certainly not for him.”

“And that is precisely why I took Fury up on his offer.” Gregory says. “They should be here within the next few hours, long before my brother is scheduled to awaken from his coma.” Gregory’s whole demeanor shifts at that moment and everything in Rhodey is ready to fight. “They’ve had enough chances, and their guardian angel is unable to come to their aid by their own hand. I have been patient and silent for too long, and look where it got us all. These fools believed themselves untouchable to the world, and more than that, they believed themselves untouchable to any repercussions they might get for touching and harming what is _mine_. This is out of Anthony’s hands now, truthfully I’ve allowed him to hold onto it for far too long; but my brother is sentimental as you well know and I can apparently be too indulgent when it comes to him.” The whole shift that happened goes away, shifting back to something that makes Rhodey think of a CEO or something and it’s jarring. “Besides, Anthony let me build the security for this place and I have always lamented that I’ve never gotten to properly use it. What fun is it if all of your best toys remain on the shelf?”

“Not to be that person, but are you even sure what you have is going to stop someone like Maximoff?” Rhodey asks and Gregory gives that light chuckle again.

“Ah yes, the Witch that thrives on fear.” There’s a pleased sort of smile that spreads on his face and it’s creepy as all fuck. “I am rather looking forward to that one. I’ve seen the reports, and her grasp of the true concept of fear is so pedestrian and young. She has so much to learn. It’ll be the only one wherein I use one of Anthony’s toys, but I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s always given me access to anything I’ve asked. B.A.R.F. should be no different.”

“What about Rogers?”

“As Anthony calls him, the glorified steroid commercial?” Gregory asks and it sounds like something Tony would say. “In what world did he stand a chance?”

“He’s proven himself to be rather lucky and obnoxiously resilient.”

“Oh, I’m _hoping_ for it.” Gregory almost purrs and Rhodey nopes right the fuck out of that conversation. Plausible deniability. Remember his motto for all of this. Plausible deniability.

“What happens afterwards?”

“After I reset the scales?” Gregory asks and Rhodey nods. “That will be up to Anthony at that point. I would hate to step on his toes, he gets so fussy about things like that; and then he’s impossible to live with.”

“I can work with that.” Rhodey says after a few moments of thinking about it. “However, if I think you’re a threat to Tony at any point in time, I’m going to put a bullet in you.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” Gregory says. “Actually, I would have been disappointed if that were not the case.” He motions to the door. “Come, there are some things that we need to do before the guests arrive.”

“Things? What things?”

“Heal your legs of course.” Gregory says like it should be obvious.

“What?”

“Why do you think I requested that you be brought here so early in the game?” Gregory asks him. “What use are you to me right now? You’d have more of a chance at being a hinderance to the next few steps than anything else, why would I bother myself with you if not to heal you?”

“Why would you do that?” Rhodey asks. “What is it to you?”

“Anthony will undoubtedly be rather distraught when he first awakens.” Gregory says. “Giving him something to feel guilt about on top of that might be too much for him to handle in the state he has the potential to be in.” Gregory stands and buttons the jacket closed and smooths out its lines. “Therefore, we will not allow that to come to pass. Correct?”

“…can you?” Rhodey asks, looking down at his legs. “The damage is beyond what the Cradle could do…”

“I am not Dr. Cho.” Gregory replies. “I’ve brought the dead back to life. I can certainly handle getting you back up on your feet.” Rhodey does his best to ignore the ‘dead back to life’ part of that sentence as Gregory walks past him. “Come now, we’re on a schedule.”

+++

The whole group is ready and roaring to go when the day creeps over the horizon. Clint and Nat are still a little jittery, a fact that Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen them be before a mission but he knows that this one is important. They’re going to go get Tony and restore Fury’s faith in them that they’re worth the struggle. He’s already giving them another chance, even if Steve doesn’t think that they should have lost the first one and therefore required another one, but Fury has always been too obsessed and lenient with Tony over the years.

“Do we have any extra information, sir?” Nat asks him as he’s showing them all of the equipment that he’s procured for this mission.

“Stark is on Tyke Island.” Fury says. “It’s been verified by the Vision.”

“Vision?” Wanda’s head perks up. “What about Viz?”

“Apparently Colonel Rhodes disappeared from Stark Towers and absconded with a jet that he then flew to Tyke Island.” Fury says. “Vision and the Council confirmed it.”

“The Council?” Steve says with a small amount of dismay. “Why are you in touch with the Accord’s Council? And what would they know anything about where Tony is? Hasn’t that been the whole problem? The world is looking for Tony? If they already know where he is then why this farce?” Fury gives Steve a look like Steve’s trying his last string of patience.

“The _World_ Council Rogers, you know, the people we answer to?” He says and his voice is heavy with sarcasm that Steve does not appreciate. It’s not like the statement was clear, anyone could have gotten confused. “They’ve given the green light for this mission and allocated any resource we could provide in an attempt to see it through to a successful completion.”

“We’ll get it done.” Steve tells Fury and Fury nods.

“This will be the end of it. Either you return with a Stark who has decided that we are back in his good graces, or you don’t come back at all.” Fury tells him.

“Even if we can’t get Tony to see reason, we can still mange without him.” Steve points out and the master spy looks at him with that look again. “Tony’s barely been a part of the Avengers lately anyways. Keeping him on the sidelines might be a good thing.”

“…I’m not even going to waste my time coming up with an answer to that.” Fury says mostly to himself before he turns. “Hill, get them debriefed and then get them on their way. I’m tired of looking at them.”

“Yes sir.” Hill says as she comes over. “Alright, lets make this count.”

“We will.” Steve promises her and she gives him a friendly smile before she launches into her spiel and Steve can’t help but wonder what Tony’s doing and thinking right now and if he knows the storm headed his way now.

Steve kind of hopes he does.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter for all of you waiting! :-) Enjoy!!!

They’re still trying to come up with an ‘acceptable plan’ by the time the others wake up. By that point though, Steve’s long since given up trying to assure them that everything is going to be fine and that they’re overreacting. Steve’s going to be there, right next to them, in what world would he let something happen to them? He’s already gone up against the best of Tony’s technology, created at the height of Tony’s ‘brilliance’, with just his bare fists and walked away practically unscathed while Tony cowered in the dirt and could only spit insults at Steve’s retreating back. Even if, and that’s a heavy _if_ , Tony did hold back a tiny bit during their fight then that just showed that Tony didn’t have the guts to hold to his path. That he didn’t have the strength to do what needed to be done, even against a friend.

After going up against Iron Man though, why should this Gregory person make him afraid just because the man is a vicious and psychotic bully? Bullies are kind of Steve’s area. They’re what he knows and they’re what he knows how to handle. He’s been handling them since even before he got the serum. He’s not afraid. Never has been, and never will.

The morning comes though, along with so many ideas thrown out as Hill comes several times with new information gathered from who knows where or what sources, and Steve can’t help but wonder a bit as they munch on the breakfast bars that Coulson brought by earlier if those two are going to be so embarrassed by the end of this with how much of a fuss they made about it right now. The new data that Hill has brought them, satellite imaging of the island in question, is helping with determining just how they’re going to get onto the island and how far through the wooded area they’re going to have to trek through before they’re actually able to finally confront this guy.

As far as security goes, Steve can’t help but wonder what Tony’s got waiting for them and what he’s going to throw out at them. From the imaging, it doesn’t look like there’s anything to be worried about, but as Nat and Clint have been so quick to remind him – people _have_ tried what they’re about to try to do in the past and none have succeeded. They’re all about to undertake something that has never been accomplished in all the years since Tony retrofitted the island with new security models and turned it into a fortress. They’re quick to tell him that it might not look like it, but it is defended.

Steve thinks about Tony’s security at the Compound and at the Tower and can already think of several ways around it. If that’s supposedly the top level of security in the world then honestly Steve’s not that impressed. Truth be told, he rarely is when it comes to Tony’s little toys no matter how much the world wants to fawn over him and his supposed genius when he makes them.

“Fuck it.” Clint snarls suddenly, his voice tight and frustrated. “I say we go in fast, hit hard and pray.” He gives up looking at the map for a few moments before sighing and running a hand through his hair. There’s a tremor in his hand that Steve wants to sigh at. Being exhausted right now is a terrible plan and he wishes that Nat and Clint had shelved this ‘plan making session’ until the morning when they’d gotten enough rest so that they weren’t on edge like this from lack of sleep.

He doesn’t say that out loud though, since both Nat and Clint have been on edge since Fury gave them the slap on the wrist for upsetting Tony’s delicate feelings and so he figures that he’ll just let them work through this as they need before he comes in and fixes the problem for them like he always does and then they can all move on to more important things. Things like Bucky on ice right now in Wakanda. Maybe after this, Tony will be able to be convinced to use his technology to help Bucky like he should have in the first place. After all, as loathe as Steve was to admit, a guilty Tony was always the easiest to deal with when it came to getting him to do the right thing. It just always drove Steve nuts with how much effort had to go in to getting him there.

“No.” Nat answers Clint’s statement. “We may as well hand ourselves over with a bow wrapped around us if we do that.” She says. “Keeping our heads down and trying to get as close as possible to the building before being detected is our best bet. We have no idea what kind of anti-intruder security Tony has set up in place to prevent exactly what we’re trying to do.”

“I can handle anything that Stark tries to throw at us.” Wanda points out, an amused smirk on her lips while the red mist curls around her face as if to remind the two spies about the powerhouse that’s sitting next to them who is going to help them deal with this problem. As odd as it is, the look that Nat shoots Wanda is lacking any of the softness that she usually has for the young girl.

“You were unable to handle _one_ grenade.” She says and it makes Wanda stare at her in surprise at the rebuke. “What makes you think you can stop Tony Stark the _Merchant of Death_ if he wants you off that island?” Wanda recoils a little at the tone that the spy has taken, and undoubtedly at the memory of the Lagos incident and Steve immediately reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze to try and soothe her and soothe any wounds that Nat’s misplaced irritation has tried to cause.

“Hey, calm down.” Steve admonishes Nat. “I get it, you’re tired, but that’s not a good enough reason to lash out at someone else who is just trying to help.” Nat turns that strangely neutral look onto him for a few moments and Clint lets out a huff.

“Help? How is ignoring what we’re trying to tell you helping?” He asks, crossing his arms. “Because I’m with Nat on this one. None of you are taking this seriously.” He rolls his shoulders. “No offense Cap, but that’s starting to tell me to cut and run, because I’m not going to die some horrible fucking death where they have to send me home in a closed casket to my family because oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something important like _skin_ , when I get sent back to SHIELD in a fucking body bag because you all didn’t want to take this seriously enough.”

“I’m taking this seriously.” Steve points out. “I’m here aren’t I? I get it, we’ve got to go in and stop Tony before he does something stupid. I’ve done this song and dance before; I know the steps.” That phrase only gets a harsh laugh out of Clint.

“What in that fucking sentence is supposed to assure me that you’ve got any fucking clue about what’s going on around you and about the shit that we’re currently neck deep in?”

“I know how dangerous Tony is.” Steve tells him firmly. “I know how dangerous he can be when he’s left to his own devices and no supervision.” Clint lets out a massive huff and shakes his head before looking back up at Steve and holding his gaze.

“You know how dangerous Tony Stark is?” He asks and there’s a kind of mockery there to his words that Steve does not appreciate and that he’s going to make sure the archer apologizes to him for by the end of this whole event. “Are you fucking kidding me? You don’t have the slightest fucking clue.”

“I’ve gone up against Tony before.”

“You’ve gone up against a Tony that Nat spent years molding for you, you dumbass.” Clint retorts harshly. “The fuck do you think you know about Tony Stark that she didn’t tell you and that we didn’t fight to break him down in order to make it a reality?”

“I know-”

“You know _Tony_.” Clint cuts him off. “You know the version of him that’s been teetering off the edge of a cliff for years. You don’t know the version of him that was Howard’s perfect little heir. You don’t know the version of him that truly snapped and killed the Ten Rings before going back and having to destroy them some more with his own hands because of what they did to his translator buddy. You don’t know the darkness that Tony Stark hides and fights with each day because he always wins against that fight and we pretend that he didn’t so he keeps trying harder to win something that’s already been won.”

“Regardless of that, you don’t know Gregory.” Nat interjects. “No matter how dangerous Tony is, Tony has limits that will snap him back and even if he didn’t, he has Rhodes and Hogan and Potts to rein him in. You’ve only ever known a Tony who doesn’t want blood on his hands and so he does everything in his power to prevent it. Gregory has no such hang ups. He has one leash, and we’re not sure right now if that leash is still reining him in.”

“Equating Tony Stark with Gregory Stark is just putting all of our heads into a guillotine and giving him a thumbs up to go ahead and drop it when he feels like it.” Clint snaps. “They’re nowhere near the same.”

“He killed _one_ woman.” Steve points out, his own frustration starting to rise at their attitudes about this whole thing. “When he was like twelve. I’m not too concerned. We’ve fought Hydra and Loki and Ultron. Who is Gregory Stark in the face of that?”

“He’s worse.” Nat says softly and Steve looks at her. “Loki wanted to rule, Ultron wanted to destroy – Gregory? Gregory wants all of that and so much more.” She looks up at meets his gaze. “And you haven’t been listening. Bains was his _first_ kill, we didn’t say he’d never killed after that, only that it couldn’t be traced back to him. But Steve, he’s killed hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ of people-” She gives him a look. “And he did it all for Tony.”

“You said it yourself, there’s no proof that Tony didn’t do any of that. I’ve read the files; I know what kind of a man Tony Stark is. It’s not a far stretch to put the man you wrote about, ‘narcissistic and not a team player’, as to someone who could hurt innocent people who get in his way when they tell him no.” Steve points out and the spies just look at him for a moment before turning to each other and giving each other looks that speak of some kind of private conversation. Nat sighs and looks at Steve before shaking her head.

“Steve, there’s something I need to tell you.” She says and Steve nods. “Do you remember the file you got on Tony? The one I assume you’re talking about?”

“Tony Stark No, Iron Man Yes?” Steve asks and she nods. “Yeah. I remember it. Kinda hard to forget reading about a man like that. He had no business being in the Avengers with a record like that.” Nat and Clint give each other that look again before Nat sighs and looks at him again.

“Steve…there’s something you need to know.”

“Is this the part where you tell me that report was fake?” Steve asks, already not believing it and Nat takes a moment before slowly shaking her head.

“No…no I wrote that file, and everything in it was spot on.” She says and Steve nods. “But Steve, the person I wrote that file on wasn’t Tony Stark…it was you.”

“What?” Steve snaps and there are a few others from Wanda, Sam and Scott.

“Fury decided to swap out your file with Tony’s. He thought it would play better than the real one.”

“No, no I’m nothing like that file.” Steve shakes his head. “Why are you saying that?”

“Because it’s the truth.” Nat says with a shrug. “When you were woken up, Fury had me do a psyche profile on you to prepare for my mission into the Avengers Initiative and into Tony Stark’s inner circle.” She looks at him. “That file and that personality was never Tony Stark’s. It was always yours.”

+++

“Miss Potts, I know that you’ve got your issues with us.” Coulson says with his friendly and congenial tone and smile. “And I know that we haven’t been the best with fostering healthy relationships between our two groups, but you know me. We’ve worked together. We’re friends.” Pepper has to refrain from tapping her nails against the desk top.

“I know that you’re supposed to be dead.” She says. “So, I’m not sure how good of friends we are Mr. Coulson that a dead man just walked into my office.”

“It was considered necessary.”

“I’m sure it was.” Pepper replies and Coulson nods.

“I’m here now though, and I’m here to help.”

“Of course you are.”

“It’s entirely possible that Stark is in danger.” Coulson says and Pepper is restraining the urge now to click the pen in her hand aggressively. “Our information puts him at the Tyke Island Facility.”

“He goes there sometimes.” Pepper replies calmly. “At least three or four times a month. More if he can manage it, although most of the time he just does video calls. He likes going in person though, thinks it’s more personal. I’m sure you all know that though.”

“This time is different. He could be badly hurt.” Coulson says and Pepper doesn’t bother holding back the next urge.

“FRIDAY, please play the footage from the suit in regards to the Siberia fight.” She says and immediately every screen in the room starts playing it. She can hear every crunch of the suit and her mind is supplying the damage reports that FRIDAY gave her of the suit’s structural integrity by the end of it. He’d gone into that fight with an already damaged suit, all because he thought he was going in with backup, all because he thought he was going in to help a _friend_. There was only ever going to be one kind of person who could destroy Tony Stark and that was only ever going to be someone that he let in the door himself and turned his back to.

“Ah, yes.” Coulson clears his throat and doesn’t look at the screens. Pepper just stays silent and lets them keep playing until the end. “You can see the cause of our concern then.”

“Then let me put you at ease, since we’re such _old friends_.” Pepper says calmly. “Mr. Stark is currently getting the best treatment that he can get. You need not worry about that.”

“How do you know for certain that Gregory hasn’t harmed him? Or that he’s really helping him and not taking advantage of the situation?”

“You mean like you’re trying to?” She asks and he looks at her. “You mean how you want to come in and do?”

“We’re trying to protect the world.”

“You’re trying to protect your own interests.” Pepper throws back at him. “I’ve been in more than enough meetings with more than enough people who think they’re better than everyone else for who knows what reasons, but they’ve all got the same tells and you’ve got them written all over your face.”

“Even if we’ve…mis-stepped,” He says and now Pepper’s refraining the urge to stab the pen in his eye for that word choice. “That doesn’t mean that Gregory is a better choice. He shouldn’t even be a choice. You have no clue what he’s capable of or what he’s doing to Tony right now.”

“FRIDAY, are we all good?” Pepper asks, never taking her eyes off of Coulson.

 ** _‘Green light.’_** FRIDAY replies and Pepper nods.

“That’s good enough for me.” She says. “That’s all I need to know. When FRIDAY tells me red, I’ll act. Until then, I see no reason to.”

“We’re concerned that FRIDAY might be compromised.” Coulson says carefully and Pepper huffs out a small laugh.

“Of course you are.” She mutters with a shake of her head. “Am I compromised too? Is anyone who doesn’t jump immediately to do your bidding compromised? I see now why Rogers and you got along so well with each other and with Hydra. Same methods, same end goals. Can’t really see a difference when I’m looking at the whole picture.”

“We are not Hydra.”

“Of course you are.” Pepper retorts, wondering if that’s quickly becoming a broken record statement that she should just record and play back for him over and over again. “Or you’re worse, I haven’t really figured out which one it is. I’ve seen what you do though, I’ve seen firsthand how you treat others and how you treat your own agents. Like disposable pawns to be set on fire if the urge arises.”

“Regardless of how you feel about SHIELD, you know that the world is going to need the Avengers.” Coulson presses with that earnest sort of charm that she’s often seen Rogers employ and all she can think about is how liars all seem to look alike in the end and use the same methods to get their way.

“You know, I never actually bought that tagline?” She says, clicking the pen. “The world needs a small group of less than ten people to try and be everywhere at once and fight whole armies of hundreds of thousands so give up all rights to them and let them do what they want because we’ll _maybe_ need them someday.” She gives him a look. “Go sell that to someone who hasn’t seen the reality of the behind the scenes. I know very well what the Avengers are, and what they will do to one of their own who doesn’t ‘toe Steve Rogers’s line’ and the world doesn’t need that.” She smiles. “For Tony’s sake, I’m going to make sure of it.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, sorry for the delay guys. These next few chapters are gonna probably be a little more spaced out then the first few ones. A lot of reasons why but mostly because I'm really struggling with how this whole thing ends. How much is shown, how much isn't, what's implied, what's shown, etc. Trying to find the good ground for me, which is proving to be a little more difficult than usual because I want to be sure that I satisfy the readers without making myself uncomfortable at the same time. So just a little more time is needed to figure out those lines. 
> 
> In the end, I will of course lean towards what makes me feel the most comfortable regardless of anything and I hope that you all understand that going forward. 
> 
> So without further ado - here ya go!

It’s certainly been an experience, watching Gregory work. Even more so when Rhodey knows that he’s about to become the semi-willing test subject for Tony’s unknowable and unstable elder brother before said brother goes and flounces off to possibly go psycho-murder a whole bunch of people who undoubtedly have it coming to them – but at the same point Rhodey can’t really find it in himself to look forward to it.

Not in the way that one might think. No, there is a small sort of vengeful justice that just floods Rhodey each time he thinks about the ticking clock on the showdown between Gregory Stark and the Rogue Avengers. These are the people who took advantage of Tony, who had stolen from him and hurt him and each time they made him be the one to apologize to _them_ for it and made Tony crawl over the broken glass that they’d littered on the ground before him just to ‘prove’ his sincerity to them. These were the people who saw nothing wrong in burning thousands of agents who probably went through the same kind of hell that Gregory is likely to unleash on them. These were the people who thought that taking in the woman who turned the Hulk lose on a civilian populated area was a good idea and let her terrorize Tony for years without so much as a moment’s empathy for the billionaire who had done and given them everything. No, these were the people who tainted and destroyed every single thing they’ve touched, Rhodey’s adopted brother included and left it all for Tony to piece back together while just skipping along and ignoring all of the damage in their wake.

Those people…he can’t help but hope that Gregory brings his A-Game down upon them. It’s long since been time to pay the piper and the piper has certainly come calling now that they’ve crossed the final line that Gregory was willing to let Tony dictate. They _killed_ him. They terrorized him, and abused him, and manipulated him and then they had the nerve to let their shining leader try and put Tony down in the ground once and for all. Rhodey doesn’t hate easily, nor does he hate often – but he _hates_ them. He hates them enough to stand still and not get in the way of Gregory or FRIDAY in their plans for what happens next.

Honestly, it’s the idea of what happens _after_ all of that which makes Rhodey worried. It’s the idea that once the sleeping monster that used to be content staying in the closet has decided to come out and play, that he might choose not to go back. The idea that he’s not only coming out, but that he’s coming out with a small amount of approval from Tony’s camp might lead to problems down the road. What if Tony feels some kind of responsibility for Rogers and the rogue’s deaths like he did for Bains? What if he comes back and feels guilty over the fate of those rats? – and this is the first time that Rhodey feels like penning out an apology to all rats for insulting them so by using them as a descriptive term for them.

What if Tony wakes up and is horrified enough to be angry with Pepper, Rhodey and FRIDAY over their subtle approval of Gregory’s choices? What if he wakes up and takes on the burden of their demise onto his own shoulders? It’s a legitimate concern, even if Rhodey has seen the tiny relaxing of Tony’s shoulders whenever he sees one of those white gift boxes. Even if Rhodey has noted how Tony seems less and less broken up about the collateral damage when Gregory comes onto the scene to do away with his nightmares and his fears.

But the Rogues have always been different. Rhodey doesn’t know why, but they’ve always been far too personal to Tony. More personal than the Ten Rings or the Mandarin or any of those kidnappers over the years. Tony’s tied in his own self-identity and his driving desire to be good into the image of the Avengers and Rhodey’s concerned how he’ll break if they’re done away with.

Regardless though, Rhodey can’t help but think that the ranking by which Tony might break at the end of Gregory’s ire will be less than the grinding to dust that the Rogue Avengers will do to him if they’re allowed to continue on. Shattered pieces can be picked up and attempted to be put back together, but absolute dust? That thing that the Rogue Avengers seem dissatisfied with anything else when it comes to Tony’s psyche…that’s something unfixable and Rhodey’s been looking for a way out for several years now and now there’s one here and he hates himself a little with how he’s already decided to look the other way. A damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation that Rhodey would have preferred to not be put in but he’s here and he’s made his choice.

Gregory seems unconcerned by Rhodey’s fragile truce, just going around and messing with systems and letting Rhodey see everything that he’s doing without taking the time to explain it all. Not that he would have needed to, Rhodey’s worked alongside Tony for decades and he knows a thing or two himself. It is weird how different the two are, even knowing that they’re a kind of twin. Visually, they’re easy to tell apart; but honestly that could be done away with with just some hair dye and contacts. No, here’s where their individual fingerprints show themselves the most. Where Tony has always been excess movement and needing to be surrounded by ear-drum splitting noise when he works, Gregory is silent and still. They couldn’t be more at odds if they tried, and there’s something mildly entertaining about the idea of the simple sort of binary that exists between them.

Tony always said that Gregory both appreciated black and white dichotomies nearly as much as he detested them. In this moment, all Rhodey can think of is them. Black and White. Good and Bad. Tony and Gregory.

“We’re ready.” Gregory says eventually and he motions to the medical bed without a backwards glance to see if Rhodey is moving. Rhodey figures that they both know that he doesn’t really need to, Rhodey’s already agreed to this part. Purely selfish, of that he won’t deny, but agreed upon and consented to. He rolls over to the bed and takes a while to struggle onto it properly. Gregory doesn’t waste any time starting the IV or in getting the meticulously mixed Extremis virus concoction into it for slow dispersal.

“Is that it?” Rhodey can’t help but ask and Gregory nods.

“All the hard work is already done Colonel. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the results. I have no doubts that they will more than meet your satisfaction.” He starts to walk away to clean up his work area.

“…thank you.”

“Acknowledged, but ultimately unnecessary.” Gregory says, not turning around to him as the burn of the virus slowly working into him begins. “I didn’t do this for you.” He puts something away. “What kind of older brother would I be if I allowed Anthony to be forced to play with broken toys?”

“You’re a dick.” Rhodey can’t help but say and he feels tired. He hears a small chuckle to that.

“I’ve been called much worse.” He says and there’s a pause before there’s a beep and Rhodey sees him pull up a screen and read something on it. “And it seems as though our guests have perfect timing. I do so appreciate it when that happens. I would hate to be forced to give them nothing less than my full, undivided attention.” It’s said so calmly, but ice rolls down Rhodey’s spine regardless. “Rest now Colonel, and fret not. I’ll take the blame for everything that happens next.” He says before the darkness takes Rhodey entirely.

He can’t help the final thought of: _You’re so fucked_. That he sends out to the Rogue Avengers though.

+++

Truly, there are times when Rogers’s inability to pick up clues or register reality happening around him has actually managed to baffle even her. This is one such time and Nat can see that there’s no talking him out of his delusions, nor is there the time for it.

He believes that they’re heading to Tyke Island and that they’re just going to walk in the front door and walk out with Tony Stark. He believes that Fury has given them a second chance to prove themselves and he’s holding onto the hope of that.

Clint and Nat know better though. They know very well what’s coming around the corner. They know what the information packets and weapons that Fury gave them truly were – an agent’s version of a last meal. He’s already wiped his hands of them. If they come back, which he has clearly taken to believe is highly unlikely, then they might be worth something to him once more – but the better chance is that they’ll be allowed to quietly bow out if they survive this suicide mission. The ship ride towards the island is mostly quiet, with Wanda just picking at her nails and Nat wonders if she’s randomly picking at their brains as she does it. She’s shown no signs that she has, but Nat knows very well that Wanda could easily throw them to the wolves with a smile and never blink. Empathy was not a talent or a trait that Wanda was particularly known for after all. It was one of the reasons that she’d been Strucker’s golden girl. Sure, she played the wide-eyed child whenever they were around, but that was only because she could get away with it and it had benefits for her to do so.

Nat is a little curious if Wanda will manage to touch Gregory’s mind before the end. What would that be like? She once described Tony’s mind like a constant burst of fireworks going off, each explosion a new idea branching off into new idea to new idea in a never-ending spiral. What would the elder Stark look like? Not for the first time Nat envies her for her power. If she had it now, she would have left them all a long time ago, kept herself in people’s peripherals and never once letting them really notice her ever again. Such a gift was wasted on Wanda Maximoff.

“When we drop, we move in fast.” Steve is saying in the background, coming up with a ‘plan’ now that they’re on the ship heading towards their destination and Clint and Nat share a glance between each other. Of course, now Steve is willing to plan and as always his plans are one-dimensional ‘let’s just run in and hit it’ plans that he’s been conditioned to believe are so revolutionary and groundbreaking.

“You know that backup isn’t coming if we fuck up in there, right?” Clint seems to feel the need to ask, and Nat just gives him a glance and shakes her head in her own way of saying ‘don’t bother’ even as Clint gets three nods although two of them are extremely exasperated nods and she expected it at this point from Steve and Wanda. It’s clear that there’s no urgency in those two, nor is there any understanding of the gravity of the situation. They think that they’re here to just do another mission. They think that they’re going up against _Tony_ who has gone out of his way to never let them see him as a threat and who has made himself smaller so as not to overwhelm them for years. How is it possible now to convince them that the ‘experience’ that they think they have is worthless because they’re not going in there against Tony for Tony, they’re going up against Gregory for Tony. To them, they think that because they’ve dealt with Hydra cells that they know the first thing about monsters and about fighting one. They don’t have the faintest clue that they’re about to poke a sleeping dragon with what tantamount to a stick and try and steal its treasure from it. They think it’s just going to roll over at the sight of them, and that’s not something that Clint and Nat can break them out of. They tried, and all they got was a kind of eye-rolling contempt for their concerns.

That’s not to say that once upon a time that Steve’s bullheaded superiority complex hadn’t been useful to SHIELD and Fury, although those good times have most certainly dried up and now they’re left with the self-deluded problem of their own making. If Stark were still around, and if the elder Stark hadn’t been called into the playing field then Rogers could have continued going on the way that he was. What was the Germany and Lagos incidents in the face of Tony Stark? He could have had it cleared up for them in a heartbeat if Rogers had played his cards right. The problem was that Rogers thought that he was an excellent card player who had all the cards when in reality he had no cards and was just the loudest shit talker at the table with nothing to back it up. If he hadn’t pushed Stark with too much too soon, then things would have been fine. The world loved someone like Rogers. He was the image of the old ways that stubborn elitists who were determined to hold onto their superiority loved to rally behind. He played to the poorly hidden inner desires and biases of them and he could easily be shined up and stuck out there with a smile and the world kept eating it up regardless of how it tasted. It was a useful thing, and it was worth all of the effort that had gone into his training and conditioning in this time period.

Now though, Natasha realizes that she’s lost control. That’s the last thing that any Red Room agent wants to realize. Losing control of a pawn meant certain death and sure enough, here has come Gregory Stark to pick up that tab. Natasha had always figured that she’d go down messy. There were no other ways when she tied herself into bigger and bigger targets. Tony Stark had been the biggest one possible and she’d gone into it with her eyes wide open and with a smirk on her lips. He’d been easy, so damn easy; but what good was that to her if he was out of reach? She knew that if she could just get in front of him, that she could play the damsel. Maybe even harken some things back to the files on Bains and force a kind of connection between Bains and Natasha that would undoubtedly force Tony to intervene in anything that Gregory wanted to do to the spy.

…that last resort did mean one simple thing though – if she was forced to play it then that meant that she was leaving the others behind for a slim chance at life. Rogers and Wilson were easy losses, and Maximoff going down might actually be a boon going forward…but Clint…they’d worked so long together that she did feel a small amount of remorse for where this mission might take them.

It’s only small though, because she sees the look that he gives her and she knows what he’s saying. _I’m sorry, I’ll leave you to dry to save myself and I hope you do the same._ It’s the closest thing to friendship and forgiveness that either of them can probably understand and she gives him back a similar look.

Rogers has been rather cold to her since the reveal about the report and Natasha can already see how he’s worked it around in his mind into something that Natasha only said because she was stressed or angry at him. Whatever, it’s getting to the point where she can cut him loose anyways. Honestly, it would be nice to be able to do that. To cut the Avengers loose and start again or fade into obscurity once more. She’s grown tired of playing the different roles that Fury has assigned to her.

First to Stark she was the Stark wrangler. The one quick to step in and push him into uncertainty and constantly ready to have him second guess himself and doubt his own intelligence.

Then, to Banner she was the Hulk lover. The woman who ‘saw the monster and loved him anyways’. The woman that he let in and trusted with himself because only two damaged monsters could get along and it had been useful in wrangling the beast. The fake tears and ‘vulnerability about being childless’ that she’d been forced to give him over the course of their ‘relationship’ had been gag worthy at times.

Next, she’d been the motherly teacher for Wanda. The older sister and the doting mother all in one package. Quick to ‘show her the ropes’ and to agree and back her on every little thing she proposed and was always in her corner.

Last but not least, she’d played the ‘redeemed assassin that had a heart of gold the whole time’ to Rogers. Honestly that one had been the most pathetic one to sell and yet he’d bought every second of it. All it had taken was a weekend watching videos of Peggy Carter and mimicking her nuances before Rogers decided that she was his ‘good to go gal’.

Sam had been nothing important to require a personalized identity for him and so she’d just recycled the Steve persona since they were hardly ever far from each other at any point in time. Now, all of those identities were going to have to be scrapped in order to play whatever one she needed in order to keep her ass alive.

There’s a certain level of ‘get the hell out’ that rushes through her when they make it to the island with no problems and manage to park up along the shore. They’re being let in; Gregory is practically rolling out the red carpet for them. She gives Clint a quick glance and she sees that he’s come to a similar determination. They need something more…they need a trump card, or the closest thing that Nat can get now that Stark is inside there. She needs a distraction that’ll be big enough and hopefully loud enough to entertain Gregory long enough for her to get to Tony.

Just like that, the idea hits and she touches Steve’s arm for a moment and motions for him to come with her. He sighs and there’s still that ‘how dare you tell the truth about me’ air that’s he’s had since the report reveal but he follows her regardless.

“Steve, there’s something that you need to know before we go in there.” Nat says and she keeps her voice down and pretends like this is information that she’s not supposed to be telling him. That always gets his attention and it doesn’t fail to now.

“What is it this time?” Steve says, crossing his arms. “Another so called report you’ve written up on me that you’ve neglected to tell me about?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but considering that we’re going in blind maybe we should understand one of the potential threats.”

“What do you mean? Not more about this Gregory guy.”

“Not so much about him as much as about what he’s done and what he undoubtedly has.” Nat says and Steve gives her a look to go on. “…You know that Gregory had access to the outside world?”

“Yeah.”

“And you know that Tony protected him from a lot of things that he did with that access?”

“I’m not surprised.”

“Well…one of the things that I didn’t mention…” She pauses and pretends to look conflicted. “It was like with the Stark assassination, I didn’t think that it would help anything for you and Tony to be at each other’s throats over Bucky so I didn’t tell him about it and followed your lead on it.” That makes Steve soften a bit and he nods.

“Thank you for that.”

“Always Steve. I’ve got your back, you know that.” She says and he takes a moment before he nods and his whole body language changes to show that he’s pretty much let go of the irritation that he was holding so tightly just a few moments ago. “…but I kept something else quiet too. I shouldn’t have, but I thought that I didn’t want you and Tony coming to blows over Gregory anymore than I did over the two of you doing it over Bucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“…When the Hydra leaks got out, Tony found out that Gregory had been working with them as one of their project designers.” Nat says and Steve’s shoulders go back and his eyes are wide in surprise. “He’d been working with them as a kind of freelancer for decades. Tony asked me to keep it quiet because…” She bites her lip and then sighs. “…well because Gregory is the one who designed the chair that Hydra used on Bucky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. for those asking: She's lying.

**Author's Note:**

> Please no comments of a negative or critiquing nature. Thank you.


End file.
